


At the Tip of a Needle, at the Butt of a Gun

by geometrix



Series: Hybrids [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hybrids, Hybrid AU, Hybrids, Longhorn!Ryan, RT Hybrid AU X, Rabbit!Ray, Sad, bird!gavin, bull!Ryan, bunny!Ray, cat!Michael, dog!Lindsay, husky!lindsay, hyrbid au x, lion!Jack, ram!Geoff, rt hybrid AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 06:50:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 35
Words: 64,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2722793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geometrix/pseuds/geometrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When protest groups against hybrids start appearing across the country, Geoff makes the hardest decision he's ever had to: sending each Achievement Hunter far away, with no way of contacting each other. All just to keep themselves safe. But when a leader steps up to the protests, and starts his tour of the southern states to promote his evil ideals, plans start to fall apart. The Achievement Hunters find themselves in positions they'd never hoped to be in, in one desperate attempt to stay safe, to stay alive, and, as best as they can, to stay human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is! The first chapter of my monster of a fanfiction that I've been working on over the last few weeks. I finally finished it last night and it's time for the first chapter. Enjoy!

_At the tip of a needle, at the butt of a gun,_   
_at the start of a revolution, where six hybrids will run_   
_At the mercy of a drug, at the control of an instinct,_   
_at a time where hybrid life could be over at any instant_   
_Contact cut off in a bid to survive,_   
_if there's ever a reunion, they'll be united alive_   
_At least that's the plan, but it's so hard to tell_   
_where they'll next meet – on earth, or in Hell._

 

 

Eventually, people started to come out of hiding. For some, it was inevitable. Try keeping a fourteen-foot wingspan under wraps, or teeth large enough to shred the flesh of any victim you choose. It was hard. And people like that were outcast very, very early on after all this 'hybrid' stuff started coming out. The majority of the human race were still completely human. Everyone else was alien, an enemy. In fact, people had gone as far as to deny hybrids' humanities. 

You commit a crime? Human rights can't protect you. You don't want to have physical and psychological experiments performed on you? Too bad. Because you just. Aren't. Human. 

Discrimination took a whole new turn. The people who led gangs had skins as thick and caring as lifelike as the cold, black boots they'd wear as they trod through the maze of hybrid corpses that surrounded them. To them, hybrids were as good as dead. The world didn't want them, and hybrids should end themselves, or expect a higher being, a _human_ to do it for them. That was the message they were so keen to convey: you die. Or you die. 

And everything always went into uproar if one of the leading faces of one of these protest gangs suddenly disappeared from the face of the media, too sick in their own homes to continue their campaigns. Too terrified to step foot outside and see the light of day burn out their eyes like they burned the souls of hybrid children across the globe. 

All this, and the percentage of the population affected was 0.0000001%. One millionth of the population. Not even ten thousand people suffered, and yet humanity had already found its new minority to rip its bloodied hands through. Another group to oppress in a desperate attempt to reinforce its own undeserved ego. The ruling white men of the world still needed to convince themselves that they had the biggest dicks. That they were not just the majority, but the priority. 

Once the first thousand cases were outed publicly, and the world began to stir from its ignorant slumber, and raise its fearsome head, preparing its gullet for a new victim to chew, that's when Achievement Hunter announced their hiatus. 

Already, they'd been having problems. Gavin had to transfer himself from house, to car, to office swaddled in thick blankets just to avoid anyone maybe seeing him. Ryan had had to quit driving, since the only way he could sit normally in the driver's seat was to roll down the window and have his left horn outside. But that was too obvious. It was like wearing a sign that read _Dear World, I'm just an innocent guy who didn't do anything wrong, yet you hate me for it anyway. So, have at it._ Geoff couldn't go out in public, and all he had was the alcohol to knock him out before the stir craziness did. Ray, Jack and Michael could hide their animal parts easier, but the toxic effects their instincts had on their behaviour often made them too scared to leave their houses unless they absolutely needed to. 

When this had all started, none of the guys would have wished the pain of changing on anyone. Nowadays, all they _could_ do was dream of a time where everyone would go through it. Every damn protester on the planet.

 Geoff knew, Geoff _absolutely_ knew that by taking the hiatus people who hadn't already clocked onto what was happening, would. But the heart-dropping moment he made the decision to do so was when he realised the options were either 'Stay here, where people know we are, and wait for the waves of protesters to come for our blood,' or 'Leave, and at least give ourselves a chance to hide. A head start is better than no start at all.'

 The initial idea was to stay in Austin. Austin wasn't that bad, people were fairly accepting, or at least apathetic to the situation. The general talk Geoff had heard was that since such a small proportion of the population was affected, it didn't matter too much.

 But as the number of those affected started to increase exponentially, it became more clear that the States, more specifically, the southern States, were no okay with it. People were scared. Guns had more protection than people did. They were worth more than real lives were. Austin suddenly didn't feel so safe any more, and they had to get out.

 It was one of the most heartbreaking decisions Geoff had ever had to make. He could remember that day, five months after the guys had all returned to work. It was about a year or so after the first symptoms had made their way into the office. Back when they were all under the blissful ignorance of thinking they had flu.

 He could remember six cars in the car park outside of Rooster Teeth Productions, all in a circle, all facing the centre of the circle. They were all pointed outwards, ready to leave, and in the middle of the circle were the six Achievement Hunters, all with pain visible across their faces. The knowledge that they were all going in separate directions to protect each other, and yet, may never again see the men they were protecting: that was the knowledge that filled everyone's minds.

 Each car was full of belongings. Everyone had abandoned their houses, all with memories and emotions floating like ghosts between their walls, waiting to be experienced, unaware their owners may never return. Beside the cars, the families of each Hunter. For some that included children, for others it was just a partner. A group of humans standing, uprooting their entire lives for the sake of protecting their hybrid loved one. Some of the bravest people Geoff had ever known.

 The men looked at each other silently. Each man's eyes was like a cinema, relaying the memories they all had of each other. Frames and frames of the past flashing past every second, too much for everyone to take in. Too much for everyone to accept they were going to lose. No one was ready to be the first to say goodbye, and no one was ready to be the last to turn around and walk away.

 But a ship should never go down without her captain, and so Geoff forced himself to be the first to speak, feeling it was ultimately his responsibility. He was looking between Jack and Gavin, his two oldest and closest friends from the group. 'You guys,' he choked out. His voice was cracked from the tears trying to force their way to the surface. 'You guys are dumb as dicks.' His voice went high at the end as he just couldn't conceal his emotions any more. It was that moment that everyone fell into each other around Geoff, their arms tight around each other, but shaking from the tears being shared. 

The mixed predators and prey could smell each other, their instincts unbearably desperate to jump out and act as they should. Jack smelling Ryan, Michael smelling Gavin; the guys couldn't usually be in such a close vicinity, but right now their human feelings were chaining their animal instincts down. This wasn't a time for the animals. It was a time for the humans. And it was almost definitely going to be the last time any of them would have of being human. 

Even though he'd spent all his years telling the guys how much he hated them, how awful they were, Geoff couldn't stop the feeling that he was never going to meet anyone who could make his life as fulfilled as the five men in front of him could. He'd already had his goodbye with Burnie, Joel, Matt and Gus, and that had been almost too much to bare, but with his boys, his Achievement Hunters, it was something else entirely.

 He shifted underneath everyone else's weight, making everyone move away, much to their own reluctance. He looked up and around at the pitiful, smiling faces of his best friends. They all wanted to convince each other it was going to be okay. But really, at this rate, what were even the odds that all of them would get to New Year alive? What were the odds any of them would see any of the others again? In anywhere but Hell? 

He looked around. 'Good luck, boys. And I hope you all make it.' He looked at the ground, not yet ready to turn and walk away. 'And if we never cross paths again, I just.' He composed himself and looked up at the men before him. 'You guys made the last eight years of my life the best.'

Geoff gave a small, sheepish salute, and turned to walk towards Griffon and Millie, who were waiting by the car. He couldn't bare to look behind him, and he couldn't bare to think about his future. This was it.

 Ryan and Jack copied Geoff. They didn't even say anything to the others – they _couldn't_ even say anything. The further they were, the more they could forget about everything. At least, they hoped. But it was never going to be that way.

 Ray put his hands on the other two Lads' shoulders, and gave them each a look. 'Team Lads, right?' Gavin and Michael gave him an encouraging smile, but none of them were fooling any of the others. Ray just squeezed their arms very slightly, and headed back towards Tina's car, where Tina was waiting to drive to their given location, away from Austin. Away from Rooster Teeth. 

Gavin watched as Tina's car drove away, and turned to Michael. There were tears in both of their eyes. Out of all of the bonds in Achievement Hunter, the one connecting Gavin and Michael had been one of the strongest. They were each almost scared, not just for themselves, but for fear that if anything happened to the other one, they'd just _know_ it. They'd be able to feel it. 

'You're always gonna be my boi, Michael,' Gavin said in his clumsy English accent. That dumb, stupid accent that Michael had spent years making fun of, yet right now he knew, he absolutely just _knew,_ that going without hearing that voice was going to destroy Michael bit by bit.

 'Yeah, Gav,' Michael forced himself to say in the most cracked, broken voice. A few tears fell from his eyes, but he brutally tried to wipe them away. 'You're my boi, too. My one and only.'

 Michael didn't know what to do after that, so Gavin shyly proposed a fist-bump, saying, 'May Team Nice Dynamite win. We're gonna do it, Michael. We're gonna get the tower of pimps of life! You're gonna see me again. Do you really think you can just get rid of me when you want? Nah!' He scoffed. 'Don't be daft.'

 Michael let out the smallest laugh beneath his tears, and bumped Gavin's fist back. All that was left in the car park was them, and the two cars waiting to take them away in completely opposite directions. The two finally forced themselves to turn away from each other, something they never thought they'd have to do, and soon, all that was left in the desolate parking lot was the memories of six men whose friendship was left chained to the office next to it. They thought they'd never forget each other, but current circumstance was forcing them to, and with every metre moved from the place they'd call home, the pain of that obligation grew even more.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! The beginning was kinda sad, I guess. On to happier things soon. Maybe.

Separating didn't mean they were free from any harm or discrimination, it just meant that as a group they had more chance of being okay. Especially with and audience of the magnitude of theirs, it was all too easy for people to come after them. One fan who didn't like hybrids was all it took for the entire company to be under an attack.

Geoff had begged his four fellow founders to consider doing the same thing. He didn't want them to come to any hard because of the Achievement Hunters. They'd understood why Geoff was asking them to do that, but they all politely declined. There was no way they were leaving the company, and if anyone came after them in search for the Hunters, well, they'd just have to go through everyone else first.

Upon planning this entire endeavour whereby all six men would be separated, they'd decided that they'd all head out to different states in different directions, and none of them were allowed to hide in their home states. They didn't want to be in close vicinity of each other, because if one of them was found, the others wouldn't be too hard to follow.

Geoff had written down states on scraps of paper for each man, and given to them in private. Not all at the same time, but just when he had a moment with them. He didn't tell them _not_ to tell the others, but the vibes they all got from Geoff was that it would be safer if they all kept their locations private. Geoff couldn't help but think that that meant they'd be less susceptible to threats. Well, except maybe him.

Geoff had decided he was going to go to California. Not because he loved LA, not because he wanted to soak up the sun, but because it was on the west coast, and it was furthest from the others. He wanted to know that all of his best friends were hundreds, thousands of miles away from him. Maybe he could keep them all safer that way.

The first Hunter he'd approached was Jack. Jack was the first Achievement Hunter, and they'd been friends the longest. Jack had also been a lot to consider, since his hybridisation meant that people had a vendetta against him _anyway_. People tended to be scared of Jack, and Geoff wanted him somewhere where he was likely to be more safe. And that meant out of the south, even though Geoff knew how loyal Jack was to his home.

Jack had been a mixture of relieved and sad when he'd read the word _Washington_ on his piece of paper. He knew that out of all the states he could have been given, it was probably one where hiding wasn't going to be too much for him. Where it could potentially be possible for him to walk the streets without being dragged away unconscious by a group of thugs. But Washington was so far away, and so north. He didn't know where the other guys were going, no, but he knew that wherever they were, he was sure as hell isolated from them.

Jack had looked up and given Geoff a sad smile of acknowledgement. 'I know, buddy,' Geoff had said, patting his friend on the shoulder and walking out.

And now here he was, driving along the I-20 W in the dank weather, his assumptions the only clue as to where his friends were right now.

Gavin had been the second person Geoff had given a location to. This one had been harder. Geoff didn't want Gavin to be stationed somewhere over-populated, where it would be impossible for him to live his life. Bird hybrids were still a sight to behold, whether or not you agreed with hybrid rights. He also felt it was best for Gavin to not have to make a treacherously long journey. So he gave Gavin Kansas.

He knew it was somewhere Gavin hadn't been before, and to be honest, Gavin probably wasn't too overjoyed about his luck of the draw. Ultimately, he'd rather have gone back to England if he really had to leave, but that would have been too obvious, and too difficult.

The first thing Gavin had said to Geoff was, 'But where are you staying, Geoff? Are we gonna be, like, miles away from each other?'

Geoff had wanted so desperately to tell Gavin where he was going to be. He didn't want to lose contact with him, the boy who he'd practically raised. All he could do was shake his head, and usher Gavin back into the office so they could distract themselves with work.

Michael had been next, and was surprised to find that Geoff had assigned him New York.

'Really? So close to home?' Michael was confused.

Geoff's logic with this had been that if any potential pursuers didn't find Michael in New Jersey, they'd assume he was miles away. Not only that, but out of any of them, Michael was the most likely to be able to keep himself up in New York. Geoff needed someone in the north west, and Michael and Lindsay seemed like the ideal candidates.

Ray got assigned Georgia, somewhere that he had never been. Geoff knew that Ray knew how to survive in a tough city, and also knew how to keep his head down low. He wanted to give Ray the choice, as well as have him far from his origins. Geoff didn't care if Ray chose to live in Atlanta, or if he chose to live in the country. He trusted that Ray could keep himself alive. He just wanted him to be somewhere that people wouldn't think of.

'But won't they look for Ryan there?' Ray had asked, that being his only doubt.

'You and Ryan match very different descriptions. Even if someone comes into a bar you're sitting in looking for him, they're not gonna look twice at the Puerto Rican sitting in the corner when they're out for a dude with horns so big he can't fit through doors.'

Ray understood, but just to lighten to mood anyway, he'd said, 'Me, Geoff? In a bar? Really?'

It didn't really have the intended effect, since it just made Geoff realise how much he'd miss Ray's crappy sense of humour. He smiled anyway, saying, 'Oh yeah, I forgot, you'll be locked up in a room somewhere. Doesn't matter where I send you.'

'Sounds more like me.'

Ryan had been the last to find out where he was going, and had been almost pissed off when Geoff gave him a piece of paper with the word _Florida_ scrawled across it. Not that he had anything against Florida, but the state was so thick with tourists and all types of people that he wasn't convinced it would be safe for him there.

'There are loads of places in Florida you can hide, Ryan. Doesn't have to be Orlando, or fucking Fort Lauderdale.' He'd started to turn away, not wanting to have this discussion. He'd spent a long time trying to plan out everyone's safety, and didn't need to be questioned.

Ryan stuffed the paper into his back pocket, and stepped towards Geoff. 'What about the others, then? Where are they going?' His stance was aggressive. Sometimes Geoff couldn't tell any more if it was a side effect of his hybridisation, or whether it was just Ryan.

He turned, his head lowered. He could feel his eyes darkening, his internal need to smash his skull right into Ryan's growing. But instead he took a step back, closed his eyes, breathed, and calmly said, 'I'm sorry, Ryan. I really am. But, I just can't.'

And with that, he'd turned and walked out, leaving Ryan alone in the room with the realisation that very soon he might not know where any of his closest friends were. And if trouble was following them, then that meant he may never know again whether they were alive or dead.

And, taking out his tattered bit of paper from his pocket, that's when he realised how hard Geoff's job must have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to leave kudos and comments for super love<33


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting into the story now eyyy

You'd think that once a group of people had been completely isolated from each other for five months, their lives would have somewhat become used to it. Adapt and survive, that's what animals did best, right?

Wrong.

It didn't take long for everyone to realise that they couldn't cheat the system that Geoff had put in place. As soon as Gavin and Michael had arrived at their designated locations, they'd tried to contact each other. Only to find that no such contact as 'Gavin Free' or 'Michael Jones' were listed under each of their contacts. Scroll through the rest – it's like Achievement Hunter had never existed.

The only person who had the potential to contact any of the others was Geoff. He couldn't help but admit to himself that he did have a mild case of the God Complex, but he convinced himself that it was purely so he could remember that they were all still out there. He liked to be in control, and every day he'd hover his fingers over their names on his phone, just begging to click them and call. But he knew he could never do that, and would end up shoving his phone under his pillow and pouring himself a stiff drink.

Geoff found he was drinking more, anyway. The world around him was telling him he'd fallen into a swirling pit of depression and emptiness, but he'd always just wave it off and pour himself another drink. _Another_ drink. Things would always be better after _another drink_.

He was pretty open to Griffon about how he was feeling, which wasn't much. It was almost like he'd lost his ability to feel. At least about anything that wasn't the Achievement Hunters. They were constantly on his mind. But the pain that came with those thoughts was often too much, and he'd end up repressing those feelings too. If they didn't want to be repressed, straight vodka often would help.

But sometimes he'd keep things from her. Usually not to worry her, but in this case, it was because he thought if he ignored it enough, maybe it would go away.

When Geoff got stressed, anxious, upset, he'd suffer from nightmares. Always had, and it was a problem that probably always would be a problem. They weren't the sort of nightmares that would cause him to thrash about and never get any sleep. It wasn't obvious when he had them. In fact, since his general demeanour had gotten worse, Griffon had asked if this was happening. He lied and told her that the drinking was keeping it all at bay. That in itself was a worry to Griffon, but she believed Geoff anyway.

His nightmares were more related to things that had happened in his past, like when he was bullied in high school, or just horrible incidents of his parents really laying into him after he'd done something bad. Basically, negative experiences would just flood Geoff's mind in his sleep. It wasn't scary, it was just a horrible, horrible thing.

They'd been really bad recently, though. He knew that they'd come about eventually from this entire situation, and had actually started before they'd even left Austin. Just knowing that the future was a dark cloud was enough to trigger it for Geoff. However, they'd been pretty inconsistent over the first couple of months of living in California. He was stressed, yes, but since it was all such a big change, his hormone levels were probably going crazy, and he was still getting used to everything. It made things pretty random as to whether or not they'd happen.

But after they'd been in their new 'home' for a while, and once he was used to it, that's when they started to come back. Having a nightmare would stress him out, and he'd end up thinking about the guys to convince himself that it was all okay. But that would make him even more stressed. So he'd drink it all away, which just ended up intensifying the feelings, which made the dreams worse. So it was all just a negative feedback loop, really.

One morning he'd woken up visibly distressed, but just happy that it was over. That was, until he saw his wife sitting next to him on the bed, a stern look on her face.

'You wanna tell me what's going on, Geoff?' she said once he noticed her presence.

He cowered a little, her voice a little too loud for him to deal with right now. He scratched at one of his ears as best he could, which wasn't very comfortable since it meant intertwining his fingers in with his horns, and it was just all round difficult. Instead he just rubbed his eyes and looked at Griffon questioningly.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' she started. 'Is ramming your head into the headboard while sleeping a _normal_ occurrence for you, Geoff?'

Geoff quickly looked from Griffon to the headboard behind his pillow. All up it were scratches and dents that had obviously been caused by his horns. He'd assumed they were just there from regular sleeping. It wasn't completely unrealistic to assume that he'd end up scratching up wherever he slept anyway.

He looked back at Griffon, and sleepily said, 'Yeah? What about it?'

Griffon went from serious to pissed off. 'Geoff, you  _ lied  _ to me about the nightmares! You told me you weren't having them any more.' She looked over to the collection of empty liquor bottles that sat in the corner of the room. She resented them so much. They were taking her husband away from her.

Geoff shrugged. 'Y'know, it's not as if there's anything you can do about them. So what, they suck. I'll deal.'

His apathy bothered Griffon, and before he had a chance to get up and walk away, she reached forward and grabbed his hand. Geoff was taken aback by the sudden interaction. He didn't realise how much he'd been distancing himself from Griffon over time.

She slowly pulled his hand nearer to her, and turned it over so his palm was facing upwards. Griffon gently stroked the lightning bolt tattoo that ran down the side of his thumb, and then turned her hand over to reveal her own. Geoff could see what she was doing.

'I want to help you, Geoff. I know this is hard, sweetie, I know it is. But if something is hurting you, I need to know about it. You have to let me support you. If not for yourself, for me and Millie.'

Geoff looked up from their hands, and into Griffon's eyes. Her face was much softer, pleading, empathetic now. He realised how much things had gone down hill. He'd sent everyone away to be safe, and yet he was neglecting his own safety. And now, it appeared, the happiness of his wife and daughter.

He smiled, and gave Griffon's hand a reassuring squeeze.

'So,' she said slowly. 'Do you want to start by telling me what that dream was about?'

'Not really,' Geoff said. 'Remind me some other time to tell you about a kid from school called Joe. Preferably when I'm really drunk.'

He patted her hand, and walked away, leaving Griffon on the bed, grinding her teeth in frustration. She watched Geoff walk away, his fluffy little tail hanging just over his boxers, and thinking that although they were here to protect Geoff because of that, the biggest danger to him right now, was really just himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to comment and kudos<3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy chapter for you! Enjoy the heartwarming fuzz the Pattillos give you<3

Jack and Caiti weren't people who allowed themselves to become bogged down with bad situations. They'd both always try and make the best of each situation, and help themselves through it if the other was struggling to stay positive. When Jack first discovered the contacts missing from his phone, he'd felt awful. There was very little Caiti could do to help it, and the one thing she hated seeing most in the world was her soulmate hurting. But she wanted to try and do something about it. They'd been on her leg of the journey to Washington, and so there was nothing Jack could do when she suddenly decided to go off course.

'But we've been given a specific instruction from Geoff!' Jack had said, all sorts of feelings going through him as a result of his wife randomly going off plan.

'Relax, we're still going to Washington,' Caiti had said back in that accent that made Jack _melt_ every time he heard it. 'I'm just taking a detour!' She gave him a big grin of reassurance.

'Well, alright,' Jack mumbled, half to himself, as his tail started swishing around by his legs again.

Caiti knew that Jack loved experience. He loved to see beautiful things, and she knew he especially loved to see beautiful things with his beautiful wife. So when Jack woke up to Caiti encouraging him out of the car, he was in absolute shock to see the wide expanse of the Grand Canyon right before him.

'You detoured all the way into Arizona?' he said, disbelieving.

'You were sad, so I wanted to show you something beautiful,' she said, breathing in as she looked out across the breathtaking landscape. 'I thought it would make you happy.'

Jack was overcome. 'The most beautiful thing that could make me happy is you.'

He turned away from the amazing scene, and looked down at Caiti. No one else as around, since it was very late (or was it early?) and dark, so he took off his hat and let his ears feel the wind. His tail didn't have to stay constricted around his leg. He felt free, and for a tiny second, he forgot everything.

They were both so dedicated to each other's happiness, that once they got to Washington, they'd decided to try and make their lives there as best as they could be. They drove all the way into Seattle, and got themselves a small hotel room. Booked at first for only a few nights; that meant they could have some time to find out what's what and create some kind of plan for their new lives. Jack didn't enjoy his lack of freedom with regards to his ears and tail, especially when he thought of how free he felt standing on top of the world back in Arizona, but he dealt with it because that was what he had to do now. That's what going into hiding involved.

After staying in the hotel for a while, they decided to put their money together to rent the tiniest, cheapest place they could. It was simply a one bedroom apartment on top of a peeling pawn shop, but it was enough to cater for them. Caiti had managed to transfer some of her modelling work up to Seattle, which meant they still had an income, even if Jack couldn't work. Nevertheless, the two would still take nights and days out, and hold hands through the streets, seeing the sights. Jack obviously took the necessary precautions, but since his animal appendages were relatively easy to hide, it was actually still possible for him to live life. Soon, life began to take a shape. There was always the people in the shop below them who'd wave them each morning when they walked past the front window. There was always that weird guy in the street preaching about protest stuff. He wore tatty clothes and spoke with a southern accent, so most people ignored him. They'd pass the same commuters each morning, all trudging towards the city centre for their day at work.

Having Caiti by his side throughout his new life meant that Jack always had something to smile about. She'd always keep his day bright and happy, and even the same routine things that passed day-by-day could feel new and exciting with her. Sometimes he'd feel bad that his thoughts weren't constantly with his friends, from whom he'd been separated for months. But the truth was that whenever he _was_ thinking about it, Caiti could sense it, and she'd always do something to improve his mood before he had a chance to get any more down about it.

Things went pretty well for them. Jack was grateful that Geoff had posted him to Washington. All of the active protesting was moving through the south at the moment. Although it was concerning how much the dynamic of the protests were changing.

It seemed that no longer was it a case of a few groups of pissed off people who were simply discriminatory and wanted hybrids out of America. It had started as rumours, but it was pretty much unofficially confirmed now that there was a 'pack leader' as it were, and the groups were combining to make one big community of protesters.

Jack had tried to look into it. Since he and Caiti didn't own a computer, he'd had to go down into the city to get hold of some free wifi from somewhere and sit searching on his phone. When the rumours were first about, there weren't really any potential names, or reasons as to why the protesters would adopt a leader, but within a week or so, actual news networks were beginning to pick up valuable information.

The guy's name was Seph Whipley. The photo of him on every website showed a guy who looked about forty, with dark hair and dark eyes, in a button up shirt that looked a couple of decades out of fashion. He had a smile on his face, that looked slightly threatening even if it was supposed to be genuine.

Someone had uploaded a video to Youtube that had been kindly linked through one of the news articles that showed Seph giving a speech to a crowd of people in Tennessee, just two days before. Apparently he'd gained a lot of publicity since then.

Jack looked around, checking no one was looking at him, and when he was convinced that he was inconspicuous enough, he quickly unwound his headphones from his pocket, and pulled the ear buds up under his hat to poke them into his ears. He knew he'd never get used to having earphones in his lion ears, but he also knew he didn't have a choice.

'Alright,' Jack whispered to himself as he tapped the screen to get the video going. It was always weird being wired in to a video when sitting outside, because the world kept going without you while you sat paused from it for a while. It also mean your guard is down, and Jack didn't want that, so he was constantly looking up to check no one was uncomfortably close to him.

The video started. It was a bit crackly from the sound of wind and crowd hum rushing over the phone's speakers, but Seph's voice was just clear enough for Jack to hear was he was saying.

'Fellow Americans,' he'd started in that cliché way that Jack knew but didn't really love. Seph's voice was smooth, but he had a distinct southern accent. Jack shook it off. Since being in the north, southern accents stood out to him like a sore thumb. 'I'm sure you're all gathered here today because you are not happy with the situation our country is currently facing. Although only a small population has been affected by this so-called “hybrid” problem, it can still have an effect on  _our_ daily lives. These people could be contagious. We need to put an end to this madness, before it puts an end to our great country.' Seph took a charismatic pause to allow the crowd to cheer in agreement. When his fingers graced the microphone, indicating that he was ready to start talking again, the crowd settled.

'Here's what I'm going to put forward. Follow me in my endeavour to put an end to this disgusting illness that's striking fear into our hearts, and into the hearts of our loved ones. Continue this protest with me, in the hopes that by the end of it we can cure this hybrid issue.'

He smiled, letting the crowd discuss for a few seconds. 'But who are you? Who is Seph Whipley, and why does he think he has the omnipotent cure to this unnatural disease? Well, my friends. Let me tell you about my parents, two of the greatest genetics specialists my home state ever saw. I was just eleven when they'd first heard of the potential of this disease. Thirteen when they started developing a cure. They died before they could be recognised for their work, something that they believed to be purely hypothetical. And now it's real, now hybridisation is affecting the American people, and my parents' legacy has a reason to live on. Join me on my protest, and by the end of it, celebrate as we are finally allowed to use this cure on those infected, and bring peace to America once more. Thank you.'

The crowd went wild. Streamers and confetti were thrown in the air, and cheers could be heard from all round. The video cut off as Seph was ushered from the podium to leave. It minimised on his phone, and he was left staring at the screen in utter shock.

If there really was a cure, then surely it would be publicly accessible by now? Jack wanted to believe it so much, but this had shade written all over it. Seph wasn't trying to convince those people in Tennessee: any suggestion of hybrids gone would have had those on board. Seph was trying to convince a wider audience, and this seemed perfectly set up to do so. Jack just hoped for those who might be convinced, and prayed for the safety of what was now his species.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REMEMBER TO LEAVE COMMENTS YOOOO


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy the Turnfree cuteness<3

'Well I - I mean, I don't really want them hurt. I just want things to go back to as they were, y'know?' A young-ish blonde girl stood awkwardly in the frame, telling a reporter how she felt after seeing Seph Whipley's speech. By now, it was the talk of the nation, and news crews all around were trying to keep up with individual opinions. Just tuning into the news now felt like watching political propaganda. And to be honest, it was propaganda that was working.   
  
'This Seph Whipley guy sounds like a right prick.'   
  
Meg found herself dreaming of a time where she'd walk into a room that Gavin was in, and not have him say something irritatingly blunt. She was good at keeping a cool head, and understood that Gavin's life was really hard right now, but hers was too, and it often felt like Gavin was too busy being angry at everything to even stop and think about how she was feeling.   
  
Meg took a breath before speaking. She was exhausted from cleaning the place up, and really just wanted to sit down. But no, she knew she was going to be the recipient of a world-class Gavin rant.    
  
'Who is Seph Whipley?' she said, emotionless.   
  
'This freaking knobrot on TV! Says he's got a cure for hybridisation, or some bollocks, but he's leading the protest!'   
  
'Oh, I think I've heard of that guy.' Meg sat down next to Gavin. 'But surely, if he has a cure.. That's good, right?'   
  
'Nah,' Gavin scoffed, the idea of Seph Whipley being an actual good guy insane to him. 'If you're a a genuinely good guy and you want to help a bunch of people, you don't go preaching to protest groups that want those people dead. He's full of shit!'   
  
'Gavin, you don't know that,' Meg said in a soft voice. She just wanted him to calm down without jumping to conclusions all the time. Everyone was the enemy to Gavin. Even if she mentioned Geoff at all, he was an enemy too. Geoff wasn't someone to be spoken about nicely.   
  
Gavin's pent up rage could be hard to deal with. Not least because she had to be the one to calm him down and drain the tension from the air, but also because Gavin often got himself hurt as a result. He was always very expressive, and a sudden flurry of feathers as his wings burst out and got caught on something was inevitable. It meant Gavin had to make an effort to sit still, which made him even more frustrated.   
  
Sometimes, Meg thought Gavin's anger was almost like him trying to make up for the loss of Michael from his life. But she never mentioned that. Mention Michael, and she'd probably be dead.   
  
'He's a lying bastard,' Gavin said coldly, not even looking at Meg. 'I wouldn't let him come near me even if he offered me ten million dollars and his so-called cure.'

Meg looked away from Gavin, and at the small TV in front of them. On it was a low quality photo of a man who looked all too much like he knew what he was doing. Gavin did have a point, it was a little bit suspicious for someone to suddenly come out of the shadows claiming to have the answer to this national problem. Something about his eyes Meg didn't like. He looked like your average guy, but Meg didn't struggle to picture him as a fictional supervillain.

She didn't want to think about it any more, so she turned her attention to the window, where she could see the dank outside world turning a muted shade of dark blue. Not many people were out and about around here when it got dark, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get Gavin out of the room.

The couple had been less than happy when they'd found out they were supposed to be moving to Kansas. Neither of them had been there, but it wasn't something on either of their bucket lists. Gavin had sulked in the car the entire way there, and whereas Meg would have liked to have joined in, she trusted Geoff, and knew that she had to stay collected and mature about the situation. Ultimately, she loved Gavin, and was very keen on supporting him throughout this ordeal.

Once they'd gotten into the state, Gavin's attitude was basically  _ Okay we're here now, let's get out _ . But Meg wasn't going to just park on the border and let him have his childish way. She drove into Wellington for them to stay one night, and then the next day they drove out to somewhere less populated.

It broke Meg's heart to see Gavin so isolated, but his hybridisation was extremely difficult to live with, and society and Gavin weren't two things that particularly mixed well given the then-current political situation. Protest groups had still been small and dispersed across the country, but they were angry and vengeful. And no doubt, in somewhere like Kansas, there were a lot more people like that who just weren't up for allying with others to prove their hate.

Keeping him cooped up like a farm animal wasn't good for him, but neither was taking him out in broad daylight where people who owned firearms could see him. Even if Kansas wasn't the most problematic with regards to guns, they sure as hell knew how to mob someone.

So the compromise was to go for walks once it got dark. They'd been staying in various motels in secluded areas of the state for the last few months, moving around every week or so. The population of the neighbourhoods that they'd stay in was never large, but even so, it was better to be safe than sorry.

'Come on,' she said, pressing the power button on the remote that was in Gavin's hand. 'Let's go out.'

Gavin looked behind him at the window, and shrugged in a way that said  _ Oh, is it that time again _ . He stood up, and let Meg grab the harness they kept that could bind up Gavin's wings behind his back. It was pretty uncomfortable, but it was the best option for when he wanted to traverse outside. He folded his wings behind his back as compactly as he could, and Meg smoothed down any feathers that were going to get in the way. Gavin really liked to preen himself, but was nevertheless grateful that Meg was sorting any strays out for him.

She held his wings steady with one hand as she wound the band of the harness around the breadth of them. Trying to keep Gavin as comfortable as possible, she clipped the harness together, and wound the extra straps around at different heights along the wing. The bottom feathers were still level with the bottom of his ass, and the top part of the wings he could still lean his head back on, but as much of them as possible were kept together. His tail feathers were all spread out right now, but he'd press them to his body when he stood up. He used to try and tuck them into his jeans, but found pretty quickly that that was actually very painful.

'You all good?' Meg asked.

'Yeeeeep,' Gavin said. She knew that he actually hated being all bound up. It was probably really claustrophobic for him. But as far as the situation went, he was absolutely fine.

'Alright,' Meg said, fishing around on the floor for their assortment of blankets. Whenever Gav wanted to go out, he'd have to be bound and then wrap himself in a blanket, like he was permanently cold and needed the extra insulation wherever he went. Meg found the one she was looking for – a bit cotton blanket in a dark blue tartan pattern. Dark colours were best for their nighttime adventures, because then if anyone happened to look out their window, Gavin would just look like a dark figure, not necessarily a hobo with a hunchback.

Gavin took the blanket and threw it round himself, holding it in at the front. 'Perfect,' Meg said, getting up and picking up her own things, like a jacket and the motel room key. Gavin got up and shifted the blanket around, trying to make himself look as human as possible. It was never going to completely work, but he could try.

Once they were ready, they let themselves out into the thick, humid air of the Kansas evening. Meg locked the door behind them, and snuggled into Gavin's side as they walked off, away from the village. Gavin swung his arm around Meg, pulling the blanket around her too. There was limited space, but they both appreciated the opportunity to be close. Often Gavin's wings would cause that to be an issue.

They kept walking through the night. Cicadas buzzed from every direction, making it impossible to work out where they were coming from. The lights of the village got smaller as they walked away. They weren't walking anywhere in particular, just a route they liked to follow most nights. The fields around them were pretty easy to cross this time of year, since the grass was dry and the soil wasn't too great for crops. The further from the village they were, the more empty fields there were. There was one about twenty minutes from the motel where you could sit right on the edge of the field and have the most perfect view of the moon without trees framing your vision.

No one really lived around there. Other than the village they'd just come from, the only houses around were few and far between, and no one was going to be walking out here at this time. People liked to be inside watching TV, especially when it was as humid as it was today, and they could be sitting by an AC vent in the comfort of their own homes. In a landscape as barren as this, the chances of a farmer storming out with the barrel of their gun pointed at Meg and Gav was very low. It was nice. It was somewhere they could feel safe.

The best bit about the privacy was that it gave Gavin a chance to spread his wings. Birds weren't supposed to have their wings bound up all the time, and so the relief that came with opening them up and feeling the little wind there was brush through his feathers was amazing.

Once they found their little spot on the edge of the field, Gavin pulled the blanket off of himself and Meg, and threw it down for them to sit on. Spiky bits of dried grass poked through the fabric, but after stomping them down, it was comfortable to sit. He turned his back to Meg so that she could take off his harness. She squinted to see, since the thick air made light lazy and it felt a lot darker than it really was. Once the harness was off, Meg stood back.

'Finally,' Gavin said to himself, revelling in the feeling of stretching his wings out to their full span. It was always a sight to behold for Meg. Gavin's wings were more than impressive, and despite being aware of how much trouble they caused him, she never ceased to admire them every time she saw them let free. Gavin gave them a flap, feeling their resistance against the air. It felt good; it felt  _ natural.  _ Every time he got the opportunity to let his full anatomy free, he struggled to imagine what it was like to be all tied up, like an animal in a test factory.

Satisfied, he sat down next to Meg, who was smiling at her boyfriend's clear happiness. It was like his irritation and aggression had just washed away the second his wings had been allowed to spread. 'Feeling better?' she grinned, giving Gav's wing an endearing stroke.

'Much better,' Gavin said, relieved. 'I always forget how good it feels to have them out.'

Even though when sitting down his wings weren't out at their full span, he kept them open, hanging behind him. It was more natural for a bird to fold their wings when sitting, but just like it was natural for a human to cross their legs when sitting, sometimes when you've been doing it for too long, you just have to sit in a different position.

Meg chuckled to herself, appreciating the moment where she and Gavin could be free of fear and strain. She laid back, her knees up, and looked up at the bright, round moon. It looked so big tonight, and the stars were trying to peak through the blanket of humidity covering Kansas. Gavin couldn't lean back, and even if he could, he wasn't ready to immobilise himself yet, so he just brought his knees up to his chest and leant forward, one of his hands lightly rested on Meg's leg. Just that small gesture of interaction made them both happy for the company.

Gavin looked out to the moon, and sighed, accompanying an 'Aaaah.' It always made him reminiscent, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he didn't care at all for any of that soppy stuff. He'd normally strike up a funny conversation with Meg, but tonight they didn't need it. Gavin began to quietly preen his feathers, feeling the air – which was now cooling down to a nighttime temperature – breeze through them. He looked up at the moon again, at its luminous yet delicate glow. He was slightly saddened at the thoughts going through his head.

His boi was sleeping under the same moon tonight, and yet he wondered if he ever looked up at it like Gavin did, and dreamt of his best friend, too.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit goin down
> 
> Just as a reminder:  
> Geoff - California  
> Jack - Washington  
> Ryan - Florida  
> Gavin - Kansas  
> Ray - Georgia  
> Michael - New York

After about an hour, Gavin and Meg felt it was time for their solitude to come to an end. Both of them could sit outside all night, but they were both sleepy and neither wanted to end up in a position where they were found the next morning. Gavin had started to get restless, and was desperate to leave the ground and meet the air. That was always a good sign for them to go. They knew that it was something that Gavin desperately wanted and needed, but sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind, and it just wasn't worth the risk.

'Shall we get going?' Meg asked Gavin in a hushed tone. No one was around, but since it was night now she still didn't want to speak in a normal voice.

Gavin sighed. 'Yeah, I guess,' he said, looking longingly at the black figures that were supposed to be trees around them.

'Let's go back to the nest,' Meg joked, trying to lighten Gavin's spirits. Sometimes Gavin thought she made fun of him for his habit of making a nest out of bed sheets and clothes, but he just swept her comment by. He knew she was doing it good-naturedly.

Meg helped Gavin into his harness, which took longer than it did before they left, as the only light was the pollution in the sky above the nearest town, which was a good few miles away. They got up, and shook out the blanket they'd been sitting on. It still had dirt and grass on it, but it was good enough for Gavin to wrap around himself without getting crap all in his wings.

Walking as quietly as they could, and being greeted by the lifelessness of the village, they made it back to their motel room. Meg shut and locked the door behind them, and unbound Gavin's wings. He proceeded to fall forward onto the bed, his wings subconsciously spreading out to his sides.

'Alright, get up,' Meg said, giving Gavin a friendly nudge to the side. He shuffled up and hauled himself off the bed. 'I wanna go to sleep,' Meg said, throwing the keys onto the sofa and picking up her pyjamas ready to get changed.

Gavin scooped up his blanket and grabbed the ones on the floor. A long time ago, he'd found out that he found it much more comfortable to sleep when he made his own nest on the floor. The only times he and Meg shared a bed was for sex. He did miss being close and cuddling and sleeping together, but his bird instincts just made it impossible for him to sleep like that.

'Nice and snuggly,' he said to himself as he laid down the blankets. He got inside the crude circle of material he'd made on the floor, took off his shirt (which despite being specially made for him was still awkward to get off) and his jeans, and started twisting the blankets around him. Once he was sufficiently cosy, he leant forward onto them, and folded his wings over himself for shelter.

Meg looked over after she was done changing into her pyjamas. Some days she could argue that she was used to Gavin's hybridisation, and other days she'd claimed she'd never learn to live with it. Most days she'd say it was weird, but she always knew it was still Gavin. But sometimes she'd look over to him, like now, and it wouldn't even be Gavin she'd see. It was just some small, scared, endangered animal.

 

 

News was a-stirrin', and now that Seph Whipley had made his mark on America, things were really starting to set in motion. The people of the country who hated hybrids and wanted them gone had joined his bandwagon, and he was doing a very good job of making them look like they had good intentions. Whether or not Whipley himself did, the people following his path did not, but he was acting as a terrific shelter for their disgusting desires.

Jack was in his apartment, watching the evening news while he waited for Caiti to come back from a modelling job she'd had that day. The news on every station was about Seph. He was pretty much America's most famous man right now, and now his protest group was official, he was planning a tour of the states to help raise awareness.

'More like help put thousands of people's lives at risk,' Jack said aggressively under his breath. He turned the volume up, deciding that it was probably a report worth watching.

' _ And just today, from Nashville, Tennessee, the site where Seph Whipley provided the speech that stopped a nation, Whipley himself has confirmed a protest tour of the United States, starting from Austin, Texas.' _

'The fuck?' Jack said, shocked. Why was Whipley starting from Austin when he was already in Nashville? What was so special about Austin?

In his thoughts, Jack forgot to listen to the report, and only caught on half way through one of Seph's sentences.

'” _ \- of a group of people who are out for the greater good. And to answer your second question, I'd say that I always planned to start in Austin. It's a beautiful city and I want an excuse to visit there again, sooner, rather than later!” Seph laughed along with the reporter. His charisma clearly had her under his spell. “But I just think it's a good place to start. I'm hopin' to get some real special people involved with this whole thing. We're gonna make America great again, and Austin is where it's gonna start. Thank you.”' _

Once again, he gave his trademark charismatic smile with that menacing undertone in his eyes. Suddenly Jack felt a shiver, like someone walked over his grave. He found himself right then very grateful that Geoff had gotten them all out of the city. Working right where the guy who wanted them obliterated was going on the first leg of his tour would have caused so many problems for them.

Jack looked down at his tail, pensive. It seemed to have a life of its own as it gently beat against the sofa, but it gave his eyes something to watch while his mind worked. He felt pretty safe in Washington, but Geoff's whole idea had revolved around people being far and wide from each other. If Jack was sent up north to be far away, then he could bet every last dollar he had that someone had been sent to the south. Not everyone could be a million miles from Texas.

He shut his TV off after stopping to listen to the report's closing sentence: ' _ So be ready to join Seph Whipley on his tour of the south. Starting from Austin, Texas, and ending in Tallahasee, Florida, you'll be seeing him soon. And if you're not in the south, fear not, for Whipley will be announcing his trek of the north after his southern part of the tour. That's all from me today, have a good night.' _

The room was eerily quiet without the TV on, but Jack's head wasn't as calm. He'd grown used to living a life of happiness and optimism, and suddenly that felt like one big lie as he thought,  _ Some of your friends are gonna have to run. They're gonna have to run hard, and they're gonna have to run fast. _

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys are getting really into this. Time to look into how the next Achievement Hunter is getting along after the separation. Remember to tell me what you think!

Ray sat, feeling the dusty air rush past his ears, blowing his short hair all around. The noise of the freeway was prominent enough to convince him that he wasn't lost, all alone, in some random place. He squinted, the mid-morning sun bright through his glasses lenses.

He heard a noise behind him, and looked to see Tina standing there. In front of him had been an expanse of land encouraging freedom, behind him was a small cut off area of a field that had an out-of-place motel standing in it. It wasn't large and expansive. It was confining.

'Do you wanna come in for something to eat?' Tina said, raising her voice slightly above the wind and the noise of the traffic.

Ray wasn't particularly hungry, and didn't have any desire to go back inside. The motel was claustrophobic and smelt very slightly damp. The tiny desk complete with a Bible and an old phone looked so empty without an entire gaming setup on it, and the tiny 4:3 TV in their room made him feel like he was on a childhood vacation that he just wanted to leave.

'No, I'm good,' Ray said, turning back to face over the freeway. Tina shifted slightly behind him, pulling her sleeves down as the breeze suddenly picked up. 'Alright,' she said, looking out at nothing in particular. She wasn't going to bother trying to argue with Ray. 'I'll come get you when we're gonna leave.' With that, she turned around and went back.

Since being in Georgia, Ray's apathy had grown tenfold. Everything he loved, besides Tina, had had to be left back in Austin as a ghostly memory. And the thing was, if Ray didn't love something, he probably didn't care about it.

He wasn't even that bothered about trying to hide. It was uncomfortable, but Ray could easily stuff his ears under a beanie, and keep his tail concealed under a hoodie or in his jeans. He wasn't particularly worried that people would be out to get him. He hadn't bothered to question Geoff. He trusted him, and even if Ray felt no danger for himself, Geoff wouldn't have sent him miles away for nothing.

Once they'd gotten to Georgia, Ray had wanted to stay in the first motel they came to, and not leave. He'd followed the instruction through, now couldn't he just go to sleep and never wake up, please? Tina had been thinking more pragmatically though, and every couple of nights she'd pack all their stuff up in the car, head down the I-16 a few miles east, and book them into the next motel off the interstate. The plan was to end up in Savannah and then stop. At least then they were pretty much as far from Austin as they could be, within the confines of Georgia.

It was hard on Tina, because she'd had to leave her life behind. Of course, she could have stayed in Austin. She wasn't a hybrid, and she wasn't an employee of Rooster Teeth, so she would have probably been fine staying. But Ray meant too much to her, and she knew that he'd end up getting himself killed purely because he didn't care enough to stop it from happening. So, she'd opted to go.

Ray tried to be Ray around her, although it was obvious he was doing a lousy job. Nothing in their surroundings were enough to inject life back into him. He'd pretty much spend most of his day walking along the interstate, crossing back over the fields to the motel, and then going to sleep. He didn't talk much, and he never bothered to watch TV. He knew his friends were out there, but it wasn't as if he could contact them, so what the fuck was he supposed to do? Constantly remind himself about what  _ could  _ be happening to them?

He was pensive today because he'd seen the news. He'd seen the news because he'd come in from a walk to find Tina looking dead-eyed and bored, staring at the news. It was obvious she was concerned, but also obvious that part of the reason she was watching it was because she was bored out of her mind.

All this talk of a mass protest crossing the southern states was news to Ray. It had been five months, and to his knowledge the state of the protests had been the same as they were when he'd left Austin: brewing, but not quite established. How wrong he'd been. Cockily, he'd privately shrugged the idea of hiding off as over-exaggerating. But now he was questioning whether or not he'd just happened to have gotten lucky.

Ray continued to just stare out at the interstate. The news he'd seen last night with Tina had shocked him, and he didn't really know what to think. A tiny part of him was prepared for whenever Geoff would choose to call and tell him that the coast was clear, and they could all reconvene in Texas. But he knew that wasn't going to happen. As if he'd ever hear Geoff's voice again. He was in Georgia for life now. In these smelly, stupid motels spending every day sitting out watching life go by.

But really, when did Ray ever opt to go out? Because since living in this state, he'd done it a hell of a lot. He'd always stayed in, he thought, because everything he needed was in. Who needs the outside world when everything he wanted was within his apartment.

Now the idea of being trapped inside wasn't appealing at all. He'd rather be bored watching everyone else going places and living life than be stuck in the four walls of Hell, where Hell has bad wallpaper and broken AC vents. Sometimes a thought would flicker across his mind that maybe he liked being outside more now because of the rabbit stuff, but he was always quick to dismiss it.  _ Nah. It was definitely because inside was shitty _ .

He sighed. He wasn't exactly panicked. Georgia was a big place, and so even when the protest groups got here it didn't mean they were going to  _ find  _ him. Wherever they were, Ray and Tina would just go somewhere else.

But it meant that everyone would be on high alert, and even those who didn't have a problem with hybrids would be shy to do anything about it, because, c'mon, this was  _ America _ . Going against the protesting masses could put your life at risk. And as much as some people believed in hybrid freedom, who would actually risk their life for a bunch of animal people?

Ray's nose twitched, and after thinking about it, decided to follow Tina back inside. He still wasn't hungry, and even if he got hungry on the way, he had bags of salad in the back of Tina's car. Sometimes they'd drive past a Taco Bell and he'd get his hopes up for something delicious, before realising that his palette was just begging for more greens. Damn you, hybridisation.

'I think my Puerto Rican skin is browning up,' he said as he got into the motel room. In the dim light of their room, though, he still looked just as he always did.

'The Brown Man's not so shockingly caucasian any more, huh?' Tina said without looking at Ray. She was busy trying to pack up her things.

Ray smirked and came into the room to help her. He never had much to pack, since he was such a neat freak and left everything folded in his suitcase anyway. A couple of things here and there could be added, but he was done within ten minutes. He just helped Tina after that.

Ray silently said goodbye to yet another room he wouldn't miss, and followed Tina out towards the car. They dropped off their key and were ready to go.

'Alright. Couple hours east?' Tina said, starting the ignition. Her voice was scratchy from the dry air, but she just coughed to clear her lungs.

'Sure,' Ray said.

'Y'know, that Whipley guy and his army of dicks are going to be in Savannah at some point.'

'Goddammit,' Ray said under his breath. He wanted to stop in Savannah. He was sick of travelling.

Tina could tell he wasn't in the mood for coming up with a new plan of action, so she just focused on reversing the car out of its space, saying, 'Well, we'll stick to the plan, and if that appears to be a bad idea when we get there, then we'll just leave.'

'Yeah,' Ray said. 'Alright.' He shifted uncomfortably as he realised he was trapping his tail, and scratched his head longingly to free his ears. Tina always asked him  _ Why don't you just take your hat off  _ when he did that, but she'd since given up, because his answer was always the same. It just wasn't worth it.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cute Geoff and Griffon stuff

Geoff picked at the scar on his leg, the one that had been there since high school. The thing about scars was that you forgot about them most of the time, but once you come face to face with one you can't leave it alone.

He'd just gotten up, and was sitting in his boxers on the edge of his bed, contemplating moving. All his attention was on his leg. It was the most pathetic form of procrastination, but it was better than having all his attention on something else.

Since he'd admitted to Griffon that he was suffering from his nightmares again, she'd really gone tough on him when it came to alcohol. She knew it was dangerous to force him to go cold turkey straight away, but she strictly limited what she'd let Geoff drink. It was time for him to live and be in the real world, rather than the Hellish reality his anxieties had built up for him. When Geoff had first been made to cut down on his drinking, he'd filled the void by sleeping. A lot. But now Griffon just woke him up at a regular time, hoping it would somehow encourage him to spend his days like he should be.

So far he'd just wasted ten minutes picking at his scar, his thoughts floating by like dirt in a pond. Subconsciously, he was probably reminiscing on his dreams. The nightmares had really honed in on specific incidents in high school, and they weren't unrelated to the scar he was picking at. Whether he'd consciously realised it or not was a different question.

He stopped, distracted, when he heard the faint muffling of the news from the other room. Griffon was up and had the TV on. She liked to keep up with the goings on in the world, even if Geoff preferred to drown away his thoughts and pretend like the outer world didn't exist. He listened in, trying to catch what they were saying.

'Jesus,' he said to himself, wanting a drink. He'd forgotten that today was the first day of Seph Whipley's grand tour. From what he could hear, they'd arrived in Austin that morning, Seph and his team. His team was pretty much a couple of friends acting as the muscle – his driver, PR people, anyone who made him look more official. There were a tonne of protesters too who just wanted to follow the tour like a teenager following their favourite band on their first road trip.

It made Geoff glad that they'd made it out of Austin, although his sympathies were with any other hybrids who might be currently in hiding there. The protest would be on high alert on their first day.

Geoff padded into the other room, which was an open-plan room containing the kitchen, separated from the living room by just a breakfast bar. The place they were currently living was a small apartment, but Geoff and Griffon were lucky enough that they actually had the money to get themselves a small place, rather than just hopping from motel to motel every night. He went round to the breakfast bar where Griffon stood, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. It didn't feel meaningful, though. It felt like habit.

'Everything okay?' Griffon asked, shrugging off the kiss. Geoff looked tired anyway, and Griffon knew he wouldn't want her to think anything of the lack of affection. Geoff leant his elbows down on the bar and let his head fall into his hands, tenderly massaging the base of his horns. It was always a good relaxation technique, although he was sure he'd probably feel better if he could just rip them out of his skull.

Griffon affectionately rubbed the small of his back, scratching the base of his tail lightly as she did. 'Hey,' she said softly, trying to encourage him to answer her.

'I need a drink,' he said, looking up straight into her eyes. It was like he was seeing past her.

Griffon sighed, considering it. After a few seconds, she moved to the fridge to grab a beer, Geoff straightening up from relief by the knowledge that he'd soon have alcohol in his system. Just as she was about to hand him the bottle, Griffon stopped.

'Only if you talk to me about all this,' she said.

'Alright,' Geoff said, reaching for the bottle. As if he was going to start spilling his feelings.

Geoff glugged down a few gulps, sighing in contentment. Griffon leant on one of her elbows, facing Geoff from the side. 'So,' she said. 'You told me to ask you about a guy called Joe? From high school?'

Geoff glared up at the TV before shifting his gaze to Griffon. 'Yeah,' he said cockily. 'But I didn't say when.'

'You said when you'd been drinking,' Griffon said bluntly, taking the now-empty bottle out of Geoff's hand and placing it on the counter. Geoff knew what she was getting at. 'Now tell me, Geoff. I'm serious, I wanna help. You're just being...' She decided not to end that sentence.

Geoff's eyes flicked between the TV and Griffon again. He wanted to keep an eye on Seph's stupid face. 'Alright,' he said again. 'Uhh, he was a dude in high school. Bullied the shit out of me. Like, I'd walk down the corridor and suddenly his hand would be at my throat. I mean,' Geoff sighed forcefully, as he did when he was trying to think of the end of a sentence before he'd gotten there. 'I don't think he _hated_ me, I just think I was an easy target, y'know. Because I didn't care enough to fight him back.'

'Okay,' Griffon said, trying to process what he'd said into something that could be of use. 'So what's that got to do with your dreams?'

'Well I told you they're always of shit that happened in high school. He was just a major dick. Like, king of the dicks. So he tends to come up in my stupid head a lot when I'm having bad dreams.'

'He must have done something bad.' Griffon hoped it would trigger a response.

'Griffon, this was in Alabama. Being shot isn't even that big a deal. Nothing could have been _that_ bad,' Geoff said, almost with a laugh in his tone. He didn't want to have a serious talk any more.

'Yeah, but that's –'

Geoff cut her off, knowing that she'd persist until he spat out the story.

'I mean,' he started, leaning one of his horns down on his hand. 'He stabbed me once. That was pretty shitty.'

'He... Wait, he  _what_ ?'

'Yeah, wasn't with a knife either. It was some used syringe thing. Man, I'm telling you, I had to have so many tests after that. Tetanus. HIV. God, my mom was, like, completely convinced I was gonna die. Luckily I had none of those things, and I mean, he got expelled after that, but y'know.'

Whatever Griffon had expected Geoff to say, it wasn't that. All she could say was, 'But, I mean, where even was this?'

Geoff shifted his position so he could (try to) put his leg on the counter. He pointed at the scar on his thigh he'd been picking at just earlier. 'Right in my leg. Hurt like a motherfucker.' He rubbed it slightly, and then put his leg down, acting like it was nothing. Like he hadn't been distracted by it since he'd woken up that morning.

'And that's what your dreams are about?' Geoff hadn't noticed how close Griffon was to him now. How her hands were on his hips and her big eyes were looking up into his. He hadn't noticed how his tail was twitching and his ears were pressed back against his horns, happy to have the close physical contact with his wife. Griffon leant up and kissed Geoff tenderly on the lips. She really did feel sorry for him.

'Go have a shower,' she whispered, giving an encouraging smile. 'We'll try and take our mind off things, okay? We'll go take Millie out, or something.'

'Alright,' Geoff said, pulling Griffon in and smiling against her lips. He stroked a loose hair back behind her ear, and then went off to have a shower. Griffon stayed where she was, slightly saddened at Geoff's story. But she was grateful for the affection. In a time he was finding so hard, it was still nice to know that Geoff's affection was still there, and even nicer for Griffon to be reminded that she loved that man just as much as she did back when she'd first said 'I do.'


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things start to happen. Also this chapter contains a non-specified gendered character! I couldn't decide what gender to write, so I used 'they, them' pronouns. Hooray for agender characters!

Kansas was the third state on Seph Whipley's tour of the south, and yet protesters had been making themselves very loud and clear since before they'd even gotten to Austin. Every day there would be protest parties, and groups of them would congregate in every town. As soon as some started to show up at Meg and Gavin's motel, that's when they'd known it had been time to leave.

But as the days went by, it got clearer that hiding was going to be continually difficult for them. Kansas was full of protesters now, and it was impossible to hide anywhere. Streets would be closed off for celebrations, and police would stalk back roads and country roads where there might be any 'suspicious behaviour'. Gavin had spent whatever time he could hiding under piles of blankets in the back of Meg's car, although due to the alertness of the authorities, there was no way that they could get away with sleeping in the car somewhere. They always had to find a motel.

Originally, they'd thought that going away from Topeka would help them, but since the population density of people who were out for hybrid blood was quite large, it didn't really seem to matter where they were. They'd get themselves into a shabby edge-of-town motel for at least a night, and once it became apparent that the protests were growing nearby, they'd try and move on.

'You alright there?' Meg looked over at Gavin, who was sat in the passenger seat of her car, scribbling a bunch on numbers down on a piece of paper. They'd just pulled up outside their next home for the night. It was late evening, and they were expecting to have to leave in the early morning. That was pretty much routine now.

Gavin half sighed, half growled in frustration. 'I'm trying to remember the damn...' He trailed off again, leaning in to the paper and writing more numbers down, but ending up scribbling them out forcefully again, and feeling his feathers puff up under his blankets. That always happened when he got annoyed or angry. 'I'm trying to remember Michael's number.' He sounded defeated.

Something in Meg's heart softened. She knew that Gavin would be struggling without Michael, but it would be a miracle to ever get him to admit it or talk about it. Meg didn't really know what to suggest. Geoff had deleted the numbers off of all of their phones for a reason.

'Maybe if you give it a break it'll come to you?' she offered. Secretly, she hoped Gavin wouldn't remember it, because it would put both them and Michael and Lindsay at risk if anyone were to find them, but she could always tell when Gavin was thinking about his Michael, because they were always the times he looked the most sad.

'Yeah,' Gavin said, just wanting the conversation to end there. Honestly, he'd typed in Michael's number enough times in the past. He really should still be able to remember it.

The two got out of the car. Meg got the bags since Gavin had to keep all the blankets around himself. They didn't event take all their belongings into motels any more. They were always there for such a short amount of time – maybe a night – and that meant that by now they knew what their essentials were and just took those in instead. It was so little that it all fit in Meg's bag.

They went in, Meg smiling at the receptionist in there. It was a teenager, probably working for their parents. Their eyes were a piercing blue and they had long lashes that contrasted their short, pixie-cut bleach blonde hair. They had a strong jaw, and they were wearing a big hoodie from the men's section of a sports shop and skinny jeans. They looked over their glasses and smiled at Meg as she and Gavin came in.

'Hey,' the teenager said. The sign on the desk said _Morgan_ , which Meg assumed was the person's name. 'Welcome to our motel. Are you here for the protests?'

Meg and Gavin gave each other a quick look, before Meg answered with, 'No, we're just hoping to stay for a night. We're on our way to see family in, uh, Missouri.'

She felt as if she looked completely fake, but Morgan just gave her a smile and said, 'Oh okay!' Their voice was rough, like they were trying hard to make it sound lower. 'Well, I won't hand you the Seph Whipley propaganda, then.' They threw a leaflet in the bin behind them. 'Been given a tonne of those by protesters over the last few days. Getting a bit sick of them.'

'Not a fan of the protests?' Meg asked, getting out her debit card so she could pay for a room. Gavin shifted his blankets, eager to go.

Morgan sat back down and started clicking at the computer, getting up the information required to book Meg and Gavin in. 'I'm not a fan of any movement designed to oppress other people,' they said, clicking on the mouse.

Meg smiled to herself. She liked this kid already.

'My parents are kind of going with it, though. They're not big supporters, but at the same time they aren't against it. They knew this hybrid guy and it freaked 'em out so bad they just don't wanna see it again. They told me that if protesters come here, I have to let them stay. I don't really wanna, but...' They trailed off.

'It sucks when you gotta do things you don't really wanna do,' Meg said, typing in her PIN. 'But you keep standing up for what you believe in.' She gave a hearty smile, and Morgan handed her the keys to hers and Gavin's room. Meg went to put her hand on Gavin's back to usher him down the corridor, but realised that it would give away the shape of his wings, so dropped her hand down to her side again. 'C'mon,' she said.

The room was just like every other room they'd had. A simple double bed with a Bible on the bed-side table. A small TV in the corner and a questionably-coloured bathroom through a door. Meg dumped her bag on the bed and shut the curtains, ready to help Gavin unwrap himself from his blankets and undo his harness. Since the protests had gotten more widespread, they'd had to stop their late night walks. If they didn't run into a protester, they were bound to run into the police, which was, in some ways, even more terrifying. So the alternative now was to shut the curtains and just left Gavin try and spread his wings in the cramped room.

Once his harness was off he stretched them out behind him, only to have the longest feathers fold against the ceiling. 'Ugh,' he groaned, pulling his wings back in so he could preen his bent feathers back into shape.

While he was distracted, Meg picked up the screwed-up piece of paper that Gavin had left on the bed when they'd taken off his blanket and harness. It was easy to see when he'd started trying to figure out the number, since his handwriting was neat (by Gavin's standards) in the top left corner, but from that it had progressed into a massive scrawl across the page, random numbers and scribbles covering every space. When Gavin was done, Meg quickly stuffed the paper under the blankets. She didn't want him to see and suddenly go back to stressing about guessing how to contact Michael again.

'Everything good?' she said in a hurry. Gavin flopped forward onto the bed so he could spread his wings without worrying about them hitting the ceiling again. Meg had to dodge one to stop it from hitting her in the face.

'Yeah,' Gavin said with a breath of air as he fell forward onto the admittedly soft duvet. Huh. Not what he was used to for a motel.

'Alright, well –' Meg got cut off by the sound of people cheering. Her suspicions were confirmed when she ran to the window to look out over the car park. A party bus had just pulled up blaring music and overflowing with drunk people. As the lights and music gradually came to an off setting, the people started cheering _WHO DO WE LOVE? SEPH! WHY DO WE LOVE HIM?_ And then bursting into a fit of drunken giggles before they had the time to finish their chant.

'Shit,' Meg hissed, and came away from the window, forcefully closing the curtains. 'Gavin, get the fuck up.' She grabbed him and forced him up faster than his legs could do it himself, and he had to take a moment to regain his balance and sort out his wings when he found himself to be upright.

'Turney, what the hell are you doing?'

Meg had Gavin by his shirt, holding it up against his neck so he couldn't move and would look at her. 'A fucking massive bus of protesters just arrived, and you need to hide.'

Gavin's wings twitched behind him. There was a moment of nothing, and then suddenly his wings started beating against the wall, feathers flying everywhere. Gavin's confined movement made him panic even more, and he ended up backing up hard into the wall, his wings slaughtering themselves into the wall behind him. Meg had to let go and back away, the risk of her being knocked out by one of the strong appendages making it unsafe to be too close to Gavin's thrashing.

' _Gavin_!' He finally heard her say, although how many times she'd yelled his name at him, he didn't know. He slowed his wings to a stop, and brought down his panicked breathing. The only movement in the room was the downy feathers slowly falling to the ground.

'Gavin,' Meg whispered this time. Slowly she stepped forward and took Gavin's face in her hands, looking up solemnly into his green eyes. 'Go hide in the bathroom. Turn on the shower and just leave it.'

Gavin nodded in a panicky way, and hurried into the bathroom. Meg did her best to swipe the feathers on the floor to the side so they weren't obvious. But then just as she heard the shower squeak on, there was a banging at their door.

She could hear the drunken voices behind it, so there was no surprise as to who it was. But she opened it anyway. 'Yeah?'

' _Eyyyyyyyy_!' a girl yelled in her face, letting off a party popper. Meg recoiled, but just continued to stand there. The girl looked like she hadn't washed her hair in a week, and the other girl behind her had water stains down her shirt. Although, it was more likely vodka stains, judging by the bottle in her hand.

'Uh..?' Meg said, pretending that she didn't know what they were doing.

'Tomorrow. Whipley comes to Kansas,' the girl said very seriously. Then she threw her head back and yelled, ' _Whipley's comin' to Kansas! Awwwww yeah!_ '

She started laughing and looked back at Meg, while the girl behind her took a swig from her bottle of vodka. Meg had to work to keep the bile out of her mouth. Straight vodka always made her cringe.

'Come join in!' the first girl said, reaching out to take Meg's wrist. Meg's sober reflexes were faster than hers, and she pulled her arm away in time. But the girl wasn't planning on that, and fell forwards into the room, relying on Meg's reaction to stop her from falling face first into Meg's cleavage.

'Ah, you know, I'm just gonna relax tonight, I think. It's been a long day of driving,' Meg lied, eager to get the two women out of her room. The first one laughed again, but suddenly stopped, distracted by the surroundings. It was like she couldn't tell if her drunk brain was making it up, or if she could really see all of this.

'What –' She was interrupted by a hiccup. 'What's the feathers for, bro?' Her balance faltered and she ended up falling onto the door frame. Meg's face burned up bright red. Oh shit.

'Uh, um, they...' She honestly couldn't think.

'Having a pillow fight all by your lonesome?' the woman hiccuped. The other woman behind her laughed hysterically, like it was the funniest thing she'd heard in a decade. Meg didn't even acknowledge her.

'Yeah! Actually! Well, not by myself. My boyfriend was all in on it too. But he's in the bathroom right now, I mean, you can hear the shower, can't you? I haven't had a chance to clear all these pillow feathers up yet.'

'Hah. Okay. You clean those up, darlin'. But you better... You better be in the dining hall in twenty, okay? You hear me? Because we're gonna have some _fun_. And you'd better _be there_.' The woman laughed again, and pushed the woman behind her out, and down the corridor away, waving her alcohol in the air as a sign of goodbye to Meg.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thing start to get serious as Gavin hides from the protesters

'Gavin.' Meg knocked on the bathroom door, carefully in case Gavin was right behind it. He crept out from behind it, turning off the shower.

'Are they gone?'

'Yeah,' Meg breathed. She was relieved that they hadn't continued on at the feather thing, but also annoyed at herself for being so careless.

Gavin came out, looking at the feathers dotted across the floor. He'd heard the whole conversation, and was just trying to compute how everything went as the women had come into the room. He walked forward and kicked at some, but they were so light and fluffy that they barely moved, and just got more stuck into the carpet. Gavin instinctively folded his wings in closer, keeping them small.

'They want me to go to some thing down the hall. They're having a big drunken party to celebrate Seph Whipley's arrival in Kansas.' She said his name like it was poison she was trying to get off her tongue. She couldn't even look at Gavin.

'Go!' Gavin said. Meg turned her head sharply to him. What? 'You should go. I bet you that people there will actually know details about the protest. You could find out _so_ much. I'll just wait here.'

Gavin looked a little sheepish, slightly embarrassed at his freak-out from earlier. He smoothed down the edge of his wing so his embarrassment wasn't that obvious.

'You sure?' Meg said.

'Yeah, absolutely.'

'Alright,' Meg said slightly sceptically, taking her room key and opening the door, ready to see what awaited her at the protest party.

 

 

The dining hall was full. Everyone there looked wasted and happy without reason. Bottles of whiskey were present on every table, sitting in sticky pools of spilt alcohol that had been at the careless hands of a drunk protester. Music was playing from a speaker someone had brought that alternated from country music to pop music. It seemed no one could decide on what they wanted to listen to. Every now and then someone would try and start a chant, and a few people would join in, until they decided something was _just so hilarious_ that they couldn't finish. Usually what they found hilarious was the fact that they had no idea what they were saying.

Morgan was sat in the corner of the room, looking quite clearly like they didn't want to be there. They kept scrolling on their iPhone, locking it, taking a sip of water from their glass, and then unlocking their phone again. Meg knew the feeling of wanting something to happen online to escape your boredom in the real world all too well, and felt bad for Morgan that they had to sit in, supervising a group of people whose ethics they hated.

The woman who'd come to Meg's room earlier came bounding over, but this time without her side-kick. 'Oh, Gloria?' she said when Meg had pointed it out. 'She passed out. She's _such_ a lightweight!' This had been followed by exaggerated guffaws of laughter.

Meg found out her name was Madeline, or, at least, that's what it sounded like through her drunk slurring. Madeline had taken Meg by the wrist around the tables, introducing her to random people who were far too drunk to remember who Meg ever was. Their last stop had been at a table around which sat, presumably, Madeline's crew. One of the women there was telling a rather animated story to the others, the men making acknowledging noises and forceful nods of the head every now and then.

'–and I says to my husband, I says, “Logan! Get the shotgun! I see one!” and he says, “But my damn knee!” You see, I totally forgot that my husband screwed his knee over like a priest in a brothel in a hunting accident back in 2002. Never been the same since. But I says – I says, “Logan, it's one of 'em, though! It's one of 'em hybrid types they talkin' 'bout on the news!” And he obviously gets all curious, y'know. Wanting to know more about what I'm seeing. He staggers over to me, bless his soul, he staggers over, and he pulls back the curtain and, well, he sees it. And I says, “I told you, Logan, I _told_ you!” And his face –' she laughed and used it as an excuse to take a swig of beer. 'It's like he never saw anything so wrong before, and Logan, well, he's seen a lot in his time.'

'So what was it then? What type?' one of the men leaning back on his chair asked calmly. Madeline leaned in, captivated by the story, although she probably can't even hear the storyteller's words properly.

'Well, you might not even believe me, but I'll tell y'all anyway. It was one of them bird types, the ones with the wings? Completely wrong, if you ask me. God didn't put them here, they don't have the right!' She stopped herself before she got too worked up over it. Meg felt her stomach churn. She really didn't want to be here. 'Logan goes to get his shotgun. It's got its own little corner by the TV. It rarely gets used these days, but you know how it is, with your pride and honour and everything. Logan, he likes to be reminded of the good ol' days. Well, he goes and he gets his gun, but when he comes back to the window, the bird's gone. Walked away too fast, I'd say. But we were _that close_. Thought no one would care. That's why I found hope in Seph.' She raised her mug of beer, the others around the table following suit. 'To Seph Whipley, and may he restore peace and justice in America. God bless.' Everyone mumbled a quiet 'God bless,' and drunk from their beers.

'I think,' Madeline started speaking while everyone else was drinking. 'I think _Meg_ should be next!'

Meg straightened up, ears alert. 'Be next for what?' she said, slightly stricken.

The woman who'd told the anecdote spoke, putting her mug down and holding her hand out demonstratively. 'We're sharing our experiences of how we've come to face the, uh, _hybrid_ folk, and how dear Mr Seph Whipley has led us all here tonight.'

'Oh,' Meg said shortly. 'I – I don't really have any anecdotes. I've, uh, I've never met a hybrid. I'm actually from Austin and, uh, Texas is a big place. So.'

She looked around at the blank stares coming back at her.

'B-but I do have a question.' She decided to strike while she could, while also veering the conversation away from how much these people wanted to kill people like her boyfriend. The thought that he was just a few rooms away and these people were willing to stick a shotgun cartridge or two through him was sickening. 'What exactly is the plan? I mean, as in, uh, Seph's?'

Everyone around the table looked very slightly pissed off at Meg's ignorance.

'I'm driving to see family in Missouri,' she revived her previous lie. 'I haven't had much of a chance to catch up with the whole thing.'

Everyone's faces and shoulders relaxed slightly, and the woman who'd told the story went to speak. She was interrupted, however, by Madeline.

'Seph _says_ he got this cure. He _says_ that. And everyone's like, “Ooooooooh, we can make hybrids humans again”. But no.' She swung her index finger around in Meg's face, but forgot her train of thought and ended up just laughing at the man on the other side of her. The woman who'd told the story picked up from where Madeline had left off, but a little more hushed than the story that she'd told with such obvious pride.

'The thing is, we know people, darlin'. People who been by Seph's side since the protest started. And when people been by your side that long, you confide in 'em, right? You would, right?'

Meg nodded.

'Sure you would. So he's told a couple people, and word gets through protest groups. So we got friends who tell us things. You wanna know what the cure really does?'

Meg wasn't sure if she really did, but she knew that whatever she was about to be told was very valuable information. This woman wasn't sober, and she had the skin of someone who'd spent more hours out in the sun than they did in education, but something about her serious demeanour and the way she took this protest so seriously made Meg trust her. She nodded.

'Now I ain't no crackpot science... person. But I know this. The drug goes all up and fucks with their brain, and it basically chops off the human side.' The aggressiveness of her hand actions were slightly unnerving. 'No human memories, no human thought, no nothing. All that's left up there is the animal. That's why we're a part of these things, darlin'. Hybrid folk aren't meant to have these human privileges, and Whipley, he just wants what's best for America.'

The woman was pretty proud of herself, but all Meg could feel was the blood rushing from her face and her head starting to spin. Gavin had known Whipley was a shady character and he had _known_ that there was something wrong, but neither of them could have guessed that this fully-developed medicine that he'd been showing off on TV like a prize cow at the county fair was just a chemical that would suppress human neural pathways and reduce hybrids to the animal instincts that wreaked their daily lives.

'You okay there?' the woman asked. Madeline clapped Meg on the back, and laughed, ' _Someone_ can't hold their liquor!' before downing the remains of her drink.

'Uh, uh, yeah,' Meg managed to force herself to say, although with every word she felt like she was going to faint. 'I just really need to sleep because I'm leaving tomorrow.'

'You's not comin' to the protest tomorrow?' the woman said suspiciously.

Meg looked up. She wanted to yell ' _No, I'm not coming to your fucking protest tomorrow, you piece of shit_!' But instead she just said, 'No, I-I really got to get to Missouri tomorrow.'

The woman waved Meg off, getting her to shush. 'Y'all can still get to Missouri after the protest is over. _Whipley's_ here, darlin'. You can't miss that. We'll come knock for you in the morning. You're gonna be there.' The sternness in her voice terrified Meg, and even more terrifying was the idea that Gavin was trapped in a building with these people. Meg didn't want to piss off someone who tells their husband to shoot people they don't like, but at the same time, she was _petrified_ for Gavin's safety.

She didn't even answer her. Meg just got up and walked out. She bee-lined for the exit. The quicker she could leave that room, the better. She didn't even look at Morgan as she stormed out of the door.

Very soon after she'd gotten into the corridor, tears started making their way down her face, but she tried hard to keep herself silent in case any of the people from her table had followed her. She fumbled with the keys until they finally managed to give her access to her room, and from there she fell forward onto the bed, screaming and crying into the duvet. Gavin had been curled up in the corner of the room in a nest he'd made for himself, but he was unable to sleep, the noise from the party banging through the walls and into his brain. At the sight of his girlfriend bursting into the room so obviously distressed, he kicked himself out of the tangle of his nest and came and sat next to her, arching his wings around her as a sign of protection.

He stroked her hair out of her face, as it was starting to stick to her salty cheeks. 'What is it?' he said in a calm, soft voice, doing his best to bring Meg down from her panicky behaviour. When she was collected enough to talk, she didn't even say anything, but instead pushed past Gavin's wings and gabbed her bag. In it was a small pad of paper and a pen right at the bottom, both of which she used to scribble down a number.

'You know Michael's address, right?' she said, her breathing stuttering. Gavin recoiled slightly in confusion.

'What, as in, his Austin address?'

'No,' Meg said without even looking at him. She ripped the paper out of her notepad and pressed it into the palm of Gavin's hand. She pushed the bag away and looked Gavin dead in the eye. 'His home address. In New Jersey. You know it, yes?'

Gavin paused, searching Meg's eyes. Yes, he did know it. But how did she know that?

He could remember now. He knew it for the stupidest reason. A few years ago, he and Michael had played this stupid drinking game. They'd already been drinking for most of that evening, but they were just bubbly drunk. It was time to step it up a notch.

It had been in the summer, where the evenings were warm and light enough for them to stay out by the pool until the late hours. The musky sunset colours wouldn't blend into the evening sky until they knew it was way past their bed time, but even then they'd stay out because those were the evenings that they knew were the best. At this point, Michael and Gavin had been good friends for enough time to have already exhausted all of the drinking games they knew, and it was time for them to come up with a new one.

Lindsay had played as the judge on it, and the rules were simple: Michael and Gavin would read out their home addresses, first email addresses, and home phone numbers, and the other would have to remember it, take a drink, and repeat, until their attempt at reading it out to the other was so broken by alcohol that their words were indecipherable. Gavin often forgot what Michael had said before he'd even started drinking. When it had come to his home address, Michael had had to repeat it seven times _and_ write it down in scrawly, drunken handwriting before Gavin had managed to even repeat it properly once. Since then, ironically, he'd never forgotten it.

' _You're such a dumb piece of shit_ ,' Gavin could hear Michael say. ' _G_ _AVIN, it's not hard to remember five fucking lines of an address_!' Michael's laughed echoed in Gavin's ears. It almost stopped him from hearing Meg say his name.

'Hello? Gavin?' she said.

'Yeah,' he said bluntly, but softly. 'I know the address.'

Meg's voice returned with more sincerity in it. 'Good. You're going there.'

Gavin's feathered puffed up. _What the fuck was Meg talking about? He wasn't going to New Jersey._

'They're gonna drag me out of this room kicking and screaming tomorrow if they have to, Gavin. I have to go to this stupid, dumb protest thing, and if they find you when they come and get me then you're going to be a dead man.' She pointed at the crumpled piece of paper she'd just forced into his hand. 'That's a taxi number. You wrap yourself up as best you can and you get yourself to the airport. And I want you to fly to New Jersey and I want you to find Michael.'

'But... What if he's not in New Jersey?' Gavin didn't know what else to say.

'Then you ask his parents to call him,' Meg started tearing up again, the fact that she was asking Gavin to go on this dangerous journey considering his condition just to protect him from the group of people sharing a motel with them was too much for her. This plan was so spontaneous, and she didn't know when she'd get to see Gavin again after that. 'And then you go and find him.'

She leant up and kissed Gavin the most meaningful kiss she could give him. It said _I don't want you to go_. It said _I'm going to see you again one day, I promise_. And it said, more than it ever had before, _I love you_.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gavin makes his way across the country without Meg

The taxi was there pretty quickly. Meg had to run with Gavin outside to grab all his things from her car without being seen by the party she'd just left. Luckily, most of the attendees were too drunk and the alternating music too loud for anyone to notice as they slipped by the dining hall and through the front door. They hadn't had time to get Gavin wrapped up properly, so his harness was very slightly too tight and uncomfortable, and the blankets were all bunchy and slipping off of one another. Once all Gavin's stuff was out the car, Meg looked up to see how he was holding up, but she was blinded by the headlights pulling up behind him.

She didn't want to get stuck in an emotional pit right now in front of Gavin. She knew once that taxi left this place, she'd be all alone in her hotel room and that would be the perfect time to let herself go. Right now she wanted to focus on Gavin. Because she probably wasn't going to see him for a while.

Meg pushed in front of Gavin to open up the sliding door to the cab for him and shovel his bags into it, followed by helping Gavin into the taxi himself. Despite it being dark outside and Gavin covered in lumpy blankets, she didn't want the driver to notice anything suspicious, and she was very conscious that sometimes drunk people liked to stumble outside for a breath of fresh air.

Once Gavin was in, Meg just looked at him before giving him a tender kiss. She put her hand on his slightly unshaven face and looked into his eyes. Her expression said it all; she didn't need to say anything. And besides, she knew that if she did, she would just start crying.

She backed out of the cab, guilt and pain rushing through her bloodstream as she closed the door on Gavin. He looked like a puppy that was being abandoned, or like a baby bird that wasn't ready to leave the nest but was being made to fend for itself anyway. And that's what he was, really. He pretty much was just a baby bird. He was Meg's baby bird.

'Take him to the airport,' she said, leaning through the front window of the taxi and counting out her twenty-dollar bills. The driver clicked at a little screen in front of him to calculate Gavin's fare, and Meg handed him the money. There was a separation between the driver's cab and the passenger bit, so all Gavin could see was Meg handing the man a lot of money. He privately wondered what Meg was going to do after handing over so much cash.

Meg took a couple of steps back to let the taxi move away, and she just looked sadly into the back of it at Gavin, watching as the distance between them increased with every crucifying heartbeat.

 

 

Gavin slammed into one of the bathroom stalls. This was unbearable, and he couldn't take it any more.

He'd gotten to the airport, which, luckily, wasn't that busy. It had a steady flow of people here and there, but it certainly wasn't rushing. At least, not in the departures section. For arrivals, that could be a whole other story. Sitting in a cab all cramped up had left his wings aching and hurting from how uncomfortable they were, and his feathers bent at bad angles, either forcing themselves painfully into his skin, or itching like crazy. Shifting about made the feelings amplify, and so he'd been stuck in this  _one_ position in the back of the cab for however many hours, his mind just  _begging_ him to get out.

No one else was in here, which was good, but he still wasn't keen to make himself that obvious. He let out a few frustrated moans, but when he could feel the avian part of his vocal chords warming themselves up for the bird noises he often made, he had to physically put his hands on his throat and hold his breath to stop himself from making them.

He ripped off his blankets and unbuckled his harness faster than he thought he could ever do. The feeling of relief of it being off and not pushing up into his feathers any more was to die for. Down floated to the floor where it had forced them out of his back. Now he had to figure out how he was going to go about this.

He slammed the toilet lid down, and slowly, Gavin sat himself sideways on the top of it. This meant he could stretch one of his wings out to the stall door, sort it out, turn around, and do it again for the other one. He brought out his right wing, and the sight of his feathers all poking out at weird and uncomfortable angles made his heart hurt. He liked to take pride in himself, but it just looked like he'd been in a fight. He gripped the top of his wing to keep it still with his right hand, while combing his left hand through the feathers, carefully separating them from one another and smoothing them all down. It took a while, but once he was done, he felt much more comfortable, and made a start on his second wing.

Soon his feathers were looking as they should, and a lot of the pent up stress in Gavin let itself go. He reluctantly folded his wings back up behind him so he could stand up, and picked up the harness from the floor. He'd never put it on himself before, and had always let Meg do it. She had careful hands and a delicate touch, and knew exactly how to make him feel at ease, and where he did and didn't like to be touched on his wings. Gavin was limited by how much his arm could contort around himself, and he was probably just going to get his wings all screwed up again.

He put it over himself, and clipped up the parts that went around his waist. The way you were supposed to wear it was that you put a shirt on over it, but since Gavin always wore his blankets, it didn't matter that he wore the harness over his clothes.

Now was the tricky part. He somehow managed to get the first part of the harness over his wings. It was a big, thick, elasticated belt that acted as the main harness part, but there were smaller bits which tied and tightened and buckled around various parts of the wing to keep it all in and all condensed down into a 'subtle' size, and those were the parts he had absolutely no idea how he was going to manage.

The temptation to peek out the stall and use the mirror by the sinks in front of it to aid him was strong, but he'd seen the CCTV cameras as he'd walked in, and he knew that if some fat security guard sucking doughnuts from the end of his gun saw a bird hybrid on the monitor in front of him, he'd send an armed team down to deal with Gavin faster than you could say _bird,_ just because he was too damn lazy to consider the fact that maybe Gavin was a real person with real issues and feelings as well.

God, it made Gavin mad.

He twisted his arms round as much as they could to try and get the top buckle clipped. It caused a cramp to shoot through his arm, but he managed to hold his feathers in enough so that he didn't catch them in the clip. He sighed with relief, preparing himself for the bottom straps. They didn't buckle up, they were more like a pulley system that tightened the more you pulled the strap through. It meant he could keep his longer, bottom feathers in more and adjust it to his needs.

The first attempt he tried, he pulled too hard and ended up bunching all his feathers together. It hurt, and he had to spend time pulling the strap out and trying to preen himself before attempt two. He craved Meg's assistance, and even more so once he remembered he was literally trapped in a bathroom stall until he could get it done.

Eventually, he managed to get the bottom two straps done. It didn't feel quite as good as when Meg did it, but perhaps that was with the knowledge that Meg didn't do it. He picked up his blankets that he'd thrown on the floor and dusted them down to rid them of the soft downy feathers that had landed on them.

Once he was confident that he'd sorted himself out to the best of his ability, Gavin unlocked the stall and took a step out. The place was still empty, in right in front of him was a row of mirrors. He leant forward, one hand still holding his blankets in place around his wings and shoulders, and the other down on the counter, supporting his weight.

Looking back at him was a face that used to laugh. It was a face that used to have fun, shouting loud noises as he ran away from his boi in the office. It was a face that had grown up with Geoff, and a face that had grown in love with Meg. It was a face that used to chuckle as he teased Ryan with stupid questions, or team up with Ray to be X-Ray and Vav, or mock Jack during work. It was a face that used to have the time of its life, and now it was a face of exhaustion, of fear, anxiety, and a face that didn't know where its next step would take it. It was a face that didn't just belong to a human, but to a bird too. It was a face that was being hunted by groups of scared, ignorant people. It was a face that had seen so much over the past two years, that it was a face Gavin hardly recognised. He wanted so desperately to go back to when he'd see himself in a mirror and his face would just be his face, instead of a deathly reminder of memories of the past that he'd never get to see again.

He shut his eyes and breathed, preparing himself for whatever he was going to do now. Before leaving the bathroom, he made sure his wings weren't too obvious, and walked out, blocking out the thoughts and leaving them to ferment forever in the bathroom.

The airport was a big place, and Gavin wasn't entirely sure where he was going. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to get on a plane. He knew he couldn't stay in Kansas, and he sure as hell didn't want to just be stuck in some airport for ages, but if he could hardly go out in public, then what was to say he could make it onto a plane which involved security checks, pat-downs and x-rays?

On the other side of the room he was in was a large information desk. He decided it was worth it to go along and ask.

'Hey,' he said, leaning forward on one of the desks, shifting his blankets so they sat better on him. The woman who was serving him gave him a big smile which he didn't return. He was sure it was all acting, anyway. The woman probably didn't give a shit which flight he got on and could he just leave, please, so that she could go home from the night shift she hated so much?

'Hello, sir,' she said in one of the most American voices Gavin had heard in a long time. Despite having lived here for however many years, Gavin could never get 100% used to the thick, curdled twinge of an American accent, especially one as viscous as this woman's. 'How can I help you?'

'Uh, yeah. Can I just ask, do you have coach services from here? Like, is there an inter-state bus I can get from here?'

The woman gave her prize smile once more and started typing on the keyboard in front of her as she spoke. 'Absolutely, sir. May I ask your destination?'

'New Jersey,' Gavin said, relief washing over him that he might not have to get a plane after all.

'Any specific location, sir?'

The irritation became apparent in Gavin's voice. 'Ugh, I don't know! Atlantic City? Newark? Does it actually matter?'

The woman's false smile wavered, but she kept going. 'Yes, sir. We have a bus out to Atlantic City in an hour. Would you like me to book you onto it?'

Gavin gave a resounding  _yes_ and slammed some twenty-dollar bills onto the desk a little more forcefully than he intended to. He didn't know how long it was going to take him to get to New Jersey, but at least he wasn't flying there. As he walked away with his printed ticket, he thought to himself about how he could be flying there without a plane or anything. He could literally just flap his wings and fly to New Jersey.

_Oh well,_ he thought to himself, stuffing his ticket in his pocket and beginning the trek to the coach station attached to the airport,  _what are you gonna do?_

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WILL GAVIN FIND HIS BOI?

The journey to New Jersey was long and very uncomfortable. The coach had been almost full, despite Gavin's assumption that the population of people with the desire to travel from Kansas to New Jersey at 3am probably wasn't that great. They'd arrived at 4am, Eastern, the following day, which, as the man sitting behind Gavin had _assured_ him, was very good timing.

They'd made a few stops along the way in service stations, but all Gavin had wanted to do was go out and stretch his wings, like he used to do with Meg every night. When everyone piled out of the bus to stretch their legs, Gavin would go and sit on a solitary mound of grass and wait for the bus driver to get going again. He didn't eat in the entire 24 hours of the trip, just because he didn't see the point in going and getting something to eat every time they stopped. While they were on the bus, Gavin would just sleep. At first, it was hard to trust himself to keep his own cover, but it turned out to be fine. It was odd not sleeping in a nest, though.

Once they'd gotten to the airport at Atlantic City, Gavin went off for a bit. He didn't want to stray too far from the airport, since he'd have to be travelling from there anyway, but he wanted to just be away from people for a bit. He knew he couldn't undo his harness – he wasn't going to go through the stress and trouble that he had back in Kansas, but he did ache to set his wings free.

To keep his mind off it, he pulled out his phone. He wanted to call Meg, but she was only an hour behind him, so she would obviously be sleeping right now. She'd been to the protest. He wanted to know how it had gone, and if she knew anything that could be of use to him. Although, saying that, the last piece of information she'd given him was pretty much  _stay here with me, and you're dead_ .

Instead, he just decided to send her a text:  _In NJ_ . He wasn't up for sending the classic 'wish you were here' stuff. Meg would know just by the bluntness of Gavin's text that he wasn't happy about being on his own. Gavin pulled out the crumpled piece of paper he had on which he'd scrawled Michael's home address. He didn't know the state very well, so he had no concept of whether or not he was far away from the address. The best he could do would be to ask the first taxi driver that swung by.

Gavin sighed, his breath visible in the cold Jersey air. He pulled his blankets in, hoping it would warm him up, and held the paper underneath their folds. He walked back through the airport and towards their taxi ranch so he could attempt to make the final leg of his journey to Michael's home.

'How much to here?' he said, pushing the paper onto the desk in front of the receptionist, like a swindler in a film trying to bribe their way in.

The receptionist picked up the paper and attempted to decipher what Gavin had written. He had to point out a few letters here and there, but the conclusion of the conversation was that it wasn't actually too far away, and yes they had taxi drivers that could take him there.

To the receptionist it was just another booking on just another night shift. But to Gavin it meant everything.

He went out to the car park to catch his cab, and handed the required cash over to the driver. Within a couple of hours he was standing outside Michael Jones' family home.

He held his breath before even thinking about moving forward. It was the depths of the morning, and the pink light of sunrise was only just beginning to poke its shy head above the trees and buildings. It was incredibly unlikely that anyone would be awake, so maybe Gavin should just come back later, or never, because maybe this was just all a stupid ide–

A light flicked on in the front window. Someone was awake so ridiculously early.

Not even skipping a beat, Gavin pulled his luggage forward as fast as he could, heaving them up the steps that lead to the entrance of Michael's house. He took in a breath, and let it out, preparing himself for what was about to happen. Did Michael's parents know he was a hybrid? Did they even know he wasn't in Austin? Gavin couldn't shake how much shock he was potentially about to put Michael's parents through, but it had to be done: for his safety, for Michael's safety, for Meg's...

He knocked, and almost immediately heard bolts and chains being moved behind the door. It swung open and standing there was Michael's mother. Gavin hadn't seen her since the wedding.

'Gavin?' she said, sounding incredibly unsure. She noticed the luggage beside him.

'Oh, I'm not staying,' he said, pulling the bag behind him. 'I just came to ask you something.' He said it so casually, like crossing the country was normal when you 'just needed to ask something'. Nevertheless, Michael's mum invited Gavin in and took him into the living room.

'Are you cold, Gavin?' she said, sitting down on the sofa opposite the one she'd offered Gavin.

Gavin considered coming up with some excuse, but ended up trailing off with an, 'Uh, no, I... I, uh...'

Michael's mum was pretty confused. She leant back on the sofa. She was pretty sure that for Gavin, a man she'd only met a few times, but even from those experiences could tell that he and Michael were inseparable, to turn up at her door at 6am completely randomly meant that something was up with Michael. She didn't want to rush Gavin and make him feel unwelcome, but at the same time, she wanted to know if there was something wrong with her son.

'Do you know about hybrids?' Gavin started with. Michael's mum frowned, unsure of the relevance, but even so, answered.

'Well, yes. I've seen stuff about them on the news.'

'What do you think?'

'What do you mean..?'

'Well, are you cool with them? Or do you hate them like this Whipley guy?'

Michael's mum hadn't thought of that before. She didn't really have an opinion on them, she was indifferent. A person was a person, for all she cared.

'Yeah. Sure. They're just people.'

Gavin nodded, convinced. He started to shrug off his blankets and unclip all the parts of his harness, before removing it completely. His wings spread out, and it felt so  _good_ .

Michael's mum gasped, but she stayed exactly where she was. She didn't know where Gavin was going with this – she didn't  _want_ to know where he was going with this. For all she knew, Michael had wings like Gavin did, too, and he was stuck down in Austin where protesters were becoming more densely populated than people who believed in hybrid rights.

'Geoff sent us all out to different parts of America so we could hide and try and keep ourselves safe. I got sent to Kansas, but the protests there are just getting so bad, I can't be safe any more. And I want to find Michael.'

'Where is he?' his mum said with no hesitation. She was slightly panicked now, and just wanted her boy to be okay.

'I don't know,' Gavin said calmly. 'We weren't allowed to tell each other where we were going, and Geoff deleted all our contact information, so I can't even call him. Luckily I could remember this address, so I thought...' Gavin trailed off to watch Michael's mum's reaction and see if she was likely to help. 'Maybe you could help me?'

She sat in silence, before saying. 'Does he have the..?' and making her hands flap slowly like wings. Gavin laughed slightly, saying, 'Nah, he's a cat.' Like it was no big deal. It was a big deal to Michael's mum, but she felt like this was moving faster than she could cope with, yet she had to keep up.

'I'll call Michael,' she said, quickly running out of the room to grab her phone. Gavin rubbed his face in his hands, disbelieving that he was about to find out where his boi was, after believing for so long that he'd never see him again.

Michael's mum came back into the room with the phone pressed to her ear. 'It's ringing,' she mouthed at Gavin. He shuffled forward onto the floor to get closer and maybe hear the other end of the call. His wings pointed backwards in concentration.

There was a click, and a very pissed-off sounding, 'Hello?'

Gavin clapped his hand to his mouth, preventing any noise, human  _or_ avian, from escaping him at the sound of Michael's voice.

'Mom?' Michael said after there was no response.

'Michael,' his mum managed to force out. 'How are you?'

'I'm doing good, Mom,' Michael said in his most blunt, impatient tone. He wanted to skip the small talk. What did she want?

'Good, good. Um, I just have a quick question for you.' She looked up at Gavin as she said it. She couldn't help a tear forming in her eye as she asked Michael, 'Where are you, baby?'

There was a silence, and then a calmer response of, 'Why do you wanna know?'

'Your bosses said you weren't in Texas right now,' she lied. 'I just...' She stopped. She couldn't go on without tears choking her. Gavin rested his hand on her knee as a comfort. He didn't know Michael's mum very well, but he definitely cared about her.

Michael sighed. 'Fine,' he said. 'I'm in New York City.'

Gavin looked taken aback. Michael was so close.

'Alright,' his mum said, her voice cracking. She looked at Gavin, and then away. 'Gavin's on his way now, baby. He'll see you soon.'

She hung up before Michael had a chance to respond, and let Gavin hold her as she let her emotions go under the realisation of how serious a situation her son was in.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter inbound!

There was never a day where Jack or Caiti would sit in their apartment without seeing the outside world. They always made a point to busy themselves with something that made them go out. A lot of the time for Caiti, that was work, but since Jack didn't have a job, he had to be a little bit more imaginative.

Today was the day Seph Whipley was in Kansas. He'd been on tour for a few days now, and his protest was in full swing. The following in the more southern states was growing by the second, and although Kansas wasn't that far south, projections suggested that its turn up would be the biggest one yet, after the début Austin one.

Before Jack had even left the apartment, he could hear the crazy dude outside preaching about it. Okay, the guy wasn't _crazy,_ but there was definitely something off about him. His eyes sat at slightly different levels to each other, and his jaw jutted subtly to one side. It was like someone had built a Sim intended to look like they _could_ be a real person, but were slightly too _wrong_.

When he swung open the door to make his way out into the world, the voice of the man got louder. He always stood in the same spot, just a few tens of metres outside Jack's door. The pavement was wide, allowing thick streams of people to pass through. It gave the man the potential for a wide audience.

Usually Jack would ignore him and walk straight past, tail squeezing tight around his leg and ears pressed to his skull even though they were already under a beanie. Even if he'd have looked in the mirror just before to check that he looked inconspicuous, walking past a man preaching about the fate of hybrids always made Jack paranoid.

But today he decided to stop and listen. He wasn't going anywhere with any urgency, and he realised he actually didn't know what this man was going to say. He didn't even know if he was for or against hybrid rights. If he was a protester, or anti-Whipley. Jack didn't know what to expect, and was still rendered confused after catching the end of the sentence the man was currently saying.

'–You think the cure will work? It's no cure. The target is out there,' he said in a resonating voice, addressing the few people who were stood around him. Most looked like the sort of people who had a weakness for a good bit of gossip: a soccer mom with two small boys hanging off of each of her arms; a young lady sporting a fake Yves St Laurent handbag; a business man half listening as he waited for his call to go through. Jack sidled up slowly, joining the small crowd, the world continuing its business around him as he so often did instead of stopping.

One of the women from the crowd called out, cutting the man off before he could begin his next sentence. 'What target?' she said, her voice above the noise of the people around them.

The preacher man looked slightly taken aback, not used to people interrupting his flow of repetitive proclamations. He looked at the woman with a strange expression, and then suddenly burst into an answer, like an overenthusiastic actor. 'Have you never considered the fact,' he said. 'That they obviously have someone in mind for that medicine?'

His tone suggested that it was entirely obvious, but there was a shared reaction among the people of the crowd that made it seem as if none of them had considered that. The woman who'd asked the question seemed slightly offended at the way the man had replied, and pulled her boys away, huffing as she did. The business man finally got through to whoever he'd called, and walked away as he started chatting. The girl carrying the fake handbag seemed drawn in, her gossip bait thickening its plot, but she spotted someone she knew down the road and decided to go after them instead.

The only person who stayed was Jack. The man who'd been speaking slumped his shoulders, and stood down from his little home-made pedestal to rummage through his bag for a snack. He seriously had to work on keeping a captivated audience. He wasn't out for tips or busking money, but he was still doing a shit job, anyway.

Jack wandered up to the guy, slightly surprising him when he looked up from his bag. The man overcame the surprise quickly, and rose happily to speak to Jack, who was maybe interested in what he'd said. Jack gave him a friendly smile, but he was a man of boundaries and didn't want to make himself seem too keen. Also, he was conscious that a potential hybrid-hater was right next to him, close enough to see his ears twitch under his beanie if he was observant enough.

'Hello,' the man said, interested to hear what Jack was waiting to say to him. He held out his hand for Jack to shake. Jack did so, and took it as a cue to ask the question on his mind.

'Hey,' he said, scratching his beard a little, thinking about how to word his question. 'I was just listening to what you were saying up there, and I just suddenly thought of this –' His sentence dragged off, the need for words replaced by his jittery hand movements, indicating that his thoughts were moving faster that his speech. 'So I was just thinking, how do you know about that target thing? Like, did you hear it, or what?'

The man smiled, and took a swig from his water that he'd previously pulled out of his bag. 'Well,' he said, wiping his mouth and screwing the cap back on. 'It's obvious, really, isn't it?'

Jack narrowed his eyes a little. It wasn't the answer he was expecting, and seemed a little vague, like he was avoiding the question. In some ways, he really  _should_ have expected it. Street preachers weren't exactly encyclopedias of knowledge. It was practically etiquette to exaggerate and make things up for the attention.

'It's like –'

'I'm sorry, I didn't actually catch your name?' Jack cut the man off. It was certainly a surprise, as the man kind of froze, looking at Jack as if he'd just asked him a trick question. Jack encouraged the conversation forward by saying, 'I'm Jack.'

The man drew in a breath and said, 'Ah, yeah, I'm Jordan.' He relaxed a little before Jack responded, hardly skipping a beat, with, 'Jordan..?'

Why did this random ginger guy want to know this? What was so important about Jordan's last name that Jack  _had_ to know it? He could be Jordan anyone. Maybe he didn't trust him because of the target comment. Well, he knew why he'd said it.

Jordan sighed, and subtly checked to see that no one else was paying attention to them. Okay, he thought, he'd tell Jack.

'Whipley,' he said quietly. 'My name is Jordan Whipley.'

Jack took a step back, eyeing Jordan in a very suspicious way. 'Are you..?'

'No! I mean... Yeah,' Jordan said, almost ashamedly. 'Seph Whipley is my big brother.'

Jack didn't believe it. He had to be lying. Some random guy in Seattle pretending that he was the brother of one of the most influential men in the country was ridiculous. Why, if his so-called brother was out trying to 'cure' America of hybridisation, was this guy left on the street in some random city pining for an audience every day to repeat exaggerations on the hybrid issue? Probably because he's a liar.

'I left home when I could, because I didn't agree with all the shit my family were talking about. They moved up here from Alabama when I was eleven, and they moved back down when I was eighteen. So I decided to stay. Seph was twenty, but he went with them, because he agreed with their beliefs.'

Jack paused a second before he replied. 'But weren't they making a cure? I mean, your parents were doctors. They were trying to help. You didn't agree with that?' Jack's inclination to becoming easily angered had to be dampened. It was something that had gotten easier over time, although that didn't mean it was a piece of cake. He calmed himself, before internally concluding that if this guy  _was_ telling the truth, he didn't like him. Why was he telling him, anyway? Why would you suddenly entrust this information with some man you just met in the street?

Jordan looked up at Jack with narrowed eyes. Jack seemed like a decent guy, and he definitely didn't seem like an idiot. He didn't want to rudely blast the obvious at Jack and make him feel stupid, so instead he just said, 'Do you really think that a cure being demanded by people who would rather murder a hybrid with their bare hands than share a country with them is really the cure we all hope it is?' He searched Jack's eyes for some understanding.

Jack was picking up cues from Jordan with every word he spoke. The way he'd said  _we all hope_ instead of  _you all hope_ . It made Jack think there was more to this for Jordan than met the eye. It made him start to trust him.

'If you know all this, why aren't you making it public?' Jack said with some sense of urgency in his voice, like he'd just come up with something that Jordan hadn't thought of before.

Jordan gave a small laugh, and held out his arm to bring Jack's attention to their surroundings. 'I  _am,_ ' he said. 'People just don't care enough to listen. They care about that charisma, that  _charm_ . I don't have any of that, and if I tried to bring that to public attention, Seph would have me dead before I could even finish.' He laughed, and Jack heard him mutter under his breath, 'Well, he wouldn't have me dead, but what are big brothers for?'

Jack understood what Jordan had said, and he agreed, to be honest. Even if someone came and told the nation that the cure was going to have some adverse effect, or cause a lot of pain to a lot of people, no one would care. People loved to latch onto things they could antagonise, and it didn't often matter what methods were used to hold that hatred in place.

 'Do you, uh, want to come in?' Jack said awkwardly. He really wanted to get more out of Jordan and ask him what he could, but he felt that the middle of the street wasn't necessarily the most appropriate place to do that. Jordan looked up at him, confused, but he adopted an expression of understanding instead when Jack pointed to his front door about thirty yards away.

Jordan looked around and sighed. 'Yeah, I guess, man,' he said casually. 'Tough crowd today.'

Jack laughed because he thought he should, and helped Jordan carry his stuff back to his apartment so he could find out more about Seph Whipley's plan.

When they were through the door, Jack led Jordan up the stairs and made him some space on the sofa. The kitchen and the living room were separated by only a breakfast bar, so it was like Jack hadn't really left the room when he got up to get himself a glass of water, and offered Jordan one, too.

Jordan politely declined, and so Jack came and sat down on the sofa opposite him. He'd almost forgotten that he'd kept his tail squeezed around his leg when he went out, and got a shock when he sat on it and felt the bone bend at an awkward angle. No matter how he tried to sit down, he couldn't make it comfortable at all, so carefully, and subtly, he had to try and pull his tail out and hide it behind the cushions he was sitting on. He breathed a sigh of relief when Jordan seemed not to have noticed.

There was a moment of awkwardness in which neither man knew who was going to be the first to start talking. After a few seconds, Jack took the role. 'So, I mean, forgive me for being so curious, but what do you actually know about this...' Jack tried to think of the right word. 'Drug? Like, how does it work? And then there's the... Why did you leave your family but Seph stay with them?'

Jordan sighed. It was obviously a lot of his personal life that Jack was asking him to share, but Jordan had been the one who'd chosen to tell him anything in the first place. He could have quite easily made up a last name and sent Jack on his way, but it was nice to be able to just tell someone something and have them not look at you like a crazy person; to actually have corroboration for your otherwise random outcries in the city streets.

'I know... some,' he started, not looking directly at Jack. 'I was pretty young when they were making all this stuff. They'd built themselves a lab in our garage, which meant they could work away from me and Seph. They didn't really tell us much about what was going on, but then when Seph turned twelve he started going in and talking to them a lot more, and I'd often just stay in the house and read, or whatever it was I did back then. Some time when Seph was thirteen, though, my parents seemed all pleased with him, and asked me to come and see them.' Jordan took a breath, kind of wishing he'd taken up Jack's offer on that glass of water. 'Well, anyway, I hadn't known anything about what they were doing, and Seph hadn't told me anything. I didn't really care, anyway. Mostly, my parents just worked overtime for work in their lab, so I didn't have any reason to think that they were doing anything different.'

Jordan's eyes flitted to Jack, who nodded in encouragement, not having anything to add, as he was waiting to listen to Jordan's whole story first.

'They told me that there was this disease – well, it wasn't the same as, like, flu, and it wasn't, like, cancer or anything. But I think they said it so I'd understand, because I was only eleven at the time. But they said they'd found it, and they were making a medicine for it. I acted happy for them because they seemed so happy. I didn't really understand.' Jordan laughed to himself.

Jack cocked his head, and smiled unsurely. 'What is it?' he said.

'It's just,' Jordan said, smirking to himself at the memory. 'The day after that was the day Seph got expelled from school. It was real bad, and that's when my parents decided to move up here to Seattle, from Alabama. It was a big move, and I remember asking what he'd done, and my parents telling me to just shut up and get my ass into the car. Seph didn't seem too bothered, it was all real odd. The car journey was pretty awkward, like no one wanted to bring anything up, but part way through it, my mom just sighed and finished telling me what she'd started the previous day. The disease meant that humans would start being like animals. They weren't sure how it was gonna turn out, but if it all worked as it should, people would have animal parts, and instincts, and all. She said that what they were working on was a medicine that would suppress the human neuro- neuro-somethings. All that would be left is animal.'

Jordan paused to look up at Jack, whose mouth was hanging very sightly ajar. His eyes were widened from their usual relaxed state. Whatever he'd expected Jordan to say about the cure, that hadn't been it. So the man running across the country advertising himself as peacekeeper to hybrids and humans was actually only interested in drugging hybrids with something that would rip their humanity away from them. Jack shut his mouth once the need came to him, not wanting Jordan to spot his sharp canines.

'I know, I didn't like it either. I didn't wanna stay, and I was just a kid back then. My parents were more open about their progress in family time, and I'd always try and find a way to excuse myself. Seph would frequently skip school to help them out, since he was super interested in their work. He's super smart anyway, so he still passed high school no problem. Over the years between when we moved to Seattle, and when I left at eighteen, I found out some real bad stuff.'

He looked solemnly to the side, not even wanting to face Jack. It was almost shameful what he was going to say. Back then, he'd really hated his family.

Jordan took a deep breath before continuing, reliving the feeling of finding out what he was about to say back when he was a teenager. 'I found out that my parents had known the very first hybrid, back in Alabama. They'd always had their eye on him, and they wanted to test the medicine out on him first. I... I...'

'What the fuck,' Jack whispered to himself. Jordan seemed visibly distressed, and Jack didn't really know what to do. If the medicine had been tested on a hybrid yet, then the world would know. So that poor guy who the Whipley parents had locked on to was still out there somewhere, unknowingly a pawn in this out-of-control game.

'I think that was the final straw for me. I didn't wanna be a part of that, even if my big brother, the guy I was supposed to look up to more than  _anything,_ even if he was with my parents on it. My parents always said they were gonna wait til this guy was older, because the drug wasn't gonna be done for a long time. I always imagined this guy. I didn't know him, but I always prayed for him, y'know?'

'How long ago even was this?' Jack said.

Jordan leant back, puffing out his cheeks as he tried to think. 'Uh,' he said. 'When we moved, it was either eighty-eight or eighty-nine. Seph was thirteen, like I said, so...'

Jack looked away, thinking. This had been a long time ago. It was pretty much two years since he and the other Achievement Hunters had started showing signs of hybridisation, and he'd had absolutely no idea that the disease had been around so much longer than that.

'Surely,' he started. 'Surely if there was a hybrid where you lived back in Alabama, you'd have seen them?'

Jordan shook his head. 'No. I mean, according to my parents, they knew this guy  _had_ the illness, but he wouldn't show symptoms for years.'

'Oh right,' Jack said, ready for his next question. 'So, how come your brother is doing this all on his own? Like, why aren't your parents with him?'

'Hah,' Jordan said, running his hands through his hair. 'My parents aren't around any more.'

Jack was taken aback. He'd heard of people disliking their parents, but no one with such spite in their voice as they told someone that their parents were no longer alive. 'I'm sorry to hear that,' Jack said, almost from force of habit. He'd literally  _just_ listened to Jordan explain how much he didn't like his parents, and yet he'd apologised for their deaths, as if Jordan missed them greatly.

'They ended it themselves,' he said bluntly, pushing past Jack's sympathies. 'They'd moved back to Alabama by then with Seph, and I was still in Seattle. All Seph told me was that they'd screwed up and got themselves infected. Apparently,' he said forcefully, angrily. 'Being dead is better than being a hybrid.'

He spoke like someone who was really strongly for hybrid rights, talking to another human. He had no idea what Jack really was, and that Jack felt he had way more right to be angry about people who hated hybrids. A twang in his heart made him despise the human tears he was sure Jordan was about to spew. But instead, Jordan just looked up and shrugged. 'That shit took over their lives, it might as well have taken over their deaths, too.'

Jordan felt it too much to tell Jack about how he sometimes went as far as to wish the same on his brother. He didn't really want his brother dead, but it often felt to Jordan like the only way he had a definite path out of this family. Who knew if Seph would ever drag him down with it all. All Jordan wanted was to be away from it all. He didn't want hybrid lives on his conscience.

He saw the look of discomfort and shock in Jack's face, and decided to do the decent thing and pretend that he was late for something. Quickly looking at the crooked watch on his wrist, he changed his tone back to a normal conversational one, and said, 'I guess I'd better get going. The people of Seattle gotta hear some more of what I have to say. One day people will realise how shit Seph is.'

'Oh, oh, of course,' Jack said, getting up after Jordan, and quickly fixing his tail before following him down the stairs towards the door. Before Jordan left, he turned to Jack. 'Thanks, Jack. I think I needed this.' Jack gave a genuine smile, and clapped Jordan on the shoulder.

'It's honestly fine,' he said. 'It means a lot that you told me all that stuff.'

Jordan smiled, and walked out into the bright sunlight, picking up his things, with his phone in his hand, and ready to spend the rest of the day preaching to the crowds.

As the door shut behind him, Jordan put all his stuff to one side and dialled onto his phone. He didn't want to be spending too long on it, so he kept the conversation short.

'Hi, where are you?' Pause. 'Alright, alright. Well, let me know when you're leaving, yeah?' Pause. 'Yeah, I know, but plans can change sometimes. Things can screw up.' He laughed. Pause. 'Okay, well, when you're headed off, tell me, because I think I know how I can make your destination just that bit sweeter.'

Jordan chuckled under his breath, and hung up the call. He picked all his things up, and gave Jack's apartment one last, thankful look before walking up the road ready to continue his day's work.

 


	14. Chapter 14

By the time Seph had been through Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia, he'd been on tour for little over two weeks. He spent on average two days in each state, but had obviously spent a little extra in his home of Alabama. Despite the fact that he'd lived up in Washington between the ages of thirteen and twenty, Seph had always considered Alabama his home. His parents had never settled in to Washington properly, and they'd all been itching to move back down, well, except maybe his little brother, but it hadn't really been as simple as that. They wanted to move back into their exact place, but they'd had to wait until everyone Seph's age had gone off to college.

When they had moved back, Seph hadn't realised just how much he'd missed home. He'd missed the house he'd spent his childhood in, and the lab his parents loved so dearly. He'd missed helping his parents out with their work. As a child, he'd felt honoured that his parents wanted him to be working with them. Curing a disease was a big deal, and he was determined to bring it to the masses, just as his parents would have wanted.

They'd only ever lied to him once, but in retrospect he saw why it had been necessary. He never resented his parents for it. In fact, he'd always forgiven them, because without that one lie, their work wouldn't have come as far as it had today.

It had been nice to go back to his family home, which had come into his ownership once his parents had died. The lab was dusty, since he never used it himself, but that was mainly because he didn't feel as if it were his place to continue on in his parents' kingdom as if they were still there. The only things in there that were different to back when his parents had worked there were the boxes of vials all filled with the final solutions of medicine. That way, if the protests worked and people did want to start using the drugs, he could ship them off to the pharmaceutical companies quickly, ready for them to be trialled.

His parents' bedroom door was permanently closed as a sign of respect. His brother's room was just as it was when they'd left back in the eighties. He'd been eleven, so toys were littered across his bedroom floor, and the old, once-brightly painted sign across his door that read  _Jordan lives here_ hung reluctantly on its last legs.

It had sucked to say goodbye to that place another time, but Seph had to move on with his tour. Next on his list was Georgia.

After leaving Georgia, it was time to go to his very last location. Florida was set to have a massive turn-up, and with every speech he'd given, every protest marched, the support and publicity had grown exponentially. It made Seph very proud, and very happy that his and his parents' ideals might soon be realised. This Florida speech was everything. He had to make it go out with a bang.

Standing in the en suite attached to his hotel room, Seph looked in the mirror in front of him. He smoothed his dark hair back, something he rarely did, preferring to leave it in its natural curly state. He was wearing a dark suit and a dark tie today. Most days he'd gone for a more smart-casual look, but this was the final leg of his southern tour, and it was important that he looked sharp.

He got a text through from his support team who worked to put the stages up at each location he went. God, those guys were good at their job. The text read:  _We're all ready_ .

Seph looked at himself hard in the mirror, like he was trying to beat himself at a staring contest, out-charming his reflection. As if trying to catch himself out, he suddenly smiled.

'Okay, Whipley,' he chuckled darkly to himself. 'It's show time.'

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. OH. OOOOH.

'I'm going to bed,' Griffon sighed, heaving herself up from the sofa. Geoff had become obsessive with following Seph Whipley's tour, and she was sick of having to sit and watch it with him every night and every day. Usually she could drag him away from it for a bit, but today Seph had been in Alabama, and so it had been even more important to Geoff that he'd seen it.

'Don't stay up too much longer, okay?' Griffon murmured, stroking Geoff's long ear that poked out from his horns. The ear twitched, and he leant his head back to look at her, like he hadn't even known she was there until she'd touched him. 'Alright,' he said softly, a smile coming to his lips, even though it was concealed by his moustache.

Griffon returned a defeated smile, fully well knowing that Geoff wouldn't listen to her. She was tired, though, and she wasn't going to stay up with him any longer. She gave him a quick kiss on his lips before making her way through to their bedroom, Geoff's hand tracing down her leg as she moved away.

She had to admit, since Geoff had come clean about his bad dreams to her, their relationship had started to incline again. Geoff wasn't always an antisocial, grovelling mess of apathy and depression any more. He still wasn't the Geoff Griffon had always known, but it was like he'd suddenly realised that he was allowed to trust and be comfortable around Griffon again. It made her happy, and it meant that even if what Geoff really wanted to do  _was_ watch news reports and footage of Seph Whipley's tour, then she wasn't going to tell him that it was wrong.

Geoff rolled his head back on the back of the sofa, angling his neck so that he could lazily see the television screen. He wasn't sure why he was so invested in Seph's protest. He hated the guy. Geoff almost felt as if he was going to contract some kind of disease just by looking at him though screen. That was ironic, he thought. Seph Whipley was the disease Geoff wanted to rid from the world, and Geoff had the disease that Seph wanted to rid from the world. What a pleasant little vicious circle.

He was only really half paying attention to the words Seph was speaking. Most of what he said was a repeat of what he'd said on earlier points of the tour. The only reason Geoff was so intent on watching this one was because it was in his home state, and it was pretty fucking close to where he'd grown up. Secretly, he'd really been interested in whether he saw anyone he used to know there, and to see the general reaction of the people representing his origins.

But his attention became captured when the repetitive patterns of Seph's speech changed into one he hadn't heard before. It was like bonus content that was never-before-seen, and Geoff wanted to hear what it was.

'We've had a lot of you ask about drugs tests.' It was all he had to say to elicit an audible stir from the audience. Seph nodded in agreement, resonating with the crowd's reaction. 'I know, I know. I agree. I know exactly what y'all want. Y'all wanna see it in  _action_ ! Y'all wanna know that it works.'

There was a cheer, and Seph smiled out to the crowd. As it calmed down, his tone got more serious. 'I want what you want. I want to bring this wonderful thing to the world. But here's the thing. I want the first. I knew him. He was a good guy. Didn't really do anything wrong, but, he became the first hybrid. I haven't seen him in years, but I know who he is, and he knows who he is, so all I ask is that he steps forward. He was the first to suffer, he should be the first to be cured. And that is what I genuinely believe. So when he's ready, that's when y'all will see the wonder of this medicine.'

Geoff was sat upright, staring straight into the screen, piercing Whipley's soul, like he felt Whipley was doing to him. Geoff could feel bile building in his throat, and all the positive feelings that he'd been building since he'd opened up to Griffon seemed to collapse very suddenly underneath him. He found that he couldn't move. He couldn't get himself to move from the position he was in. The desire to smash his horns into something very hard and solid didn't even have time to catch up with his emotions.

It wasn't that he felt sorry for whomever it was that Whipley had in mind. He felt terrified for them. He felt terrified for them because he'd  _lied_ . Geoff brought his hands to his face, pushing his fingers just up to his eyes, feeling his hands shake against his cheeks. He'd lied. He'd told Griffon that he'd told her everything after that night where she'd managed to draw out of him the stories behind his nightmares.

And he'd thought that what he'd told her was enough. It was enough to quell his feelings of absolute despair. But secretly, he'd known that it would never be enough to hide the whole story. He could try and pretend that it hadn't happened, or just make a joke out of it. Yeah –  _hahaha, my mom thought I had Tetanus_ . Good one, Geoff. Real funny.

But right here and right now, as Geoff brought his knees to his chest, and the only light falling on his paled face was the arrogant gloom from the television. He hadn't muted it, but he couldn't hear it any more, sounds drowned out by the sea of thoughts crashing and ebbing against the inside of his skull. He brought his hands to his ears, and pulled them slowly in, trying to cover his eyes with them. The tug was painful, but he was glad for the pain. His pure frustration, trauma and fear craving the discomfort and the punishment.

He didn't even notice the tears that sunk into the fur and stained his cheeks from where they'd missed his ears. He didn't notice the way he forced out the words  _Fuck, fuck fuck_ like he despised the air that formed them, subconsciously biting down onto his lip more than he had to to feel the jolt through his nerves.

He wanted to scream out in anger and frustration, but it was so, so important that his family couldn't hear him. He'd spent so long keeping these secrets under his skin, away from his wife and daughter. He didn't want to poison them with his rotten memories. Memories he thought he'd buried enough, but only to find that they'd been boring themselves into the depths of his brain, prepared to one day manifest again.

He stopped fighting against himself, the pain in his ears and lips and anywhere else having made its point now. Instead he just slammed his legs onto the ground and fell forward onto his hands, his hair dancing between the tips of his fingers. His face was totally covered, the only thing to be seen the animal features of which he'd been the owner for a long time, now.

Longer than he cared to admit.

The memory that Geoff tried to hard not to think about flooded into his mind again. Every detail that he'd not told Griffon, that he'd not told _anybody_. It was like the room around him washed out and he was reliving his past again.

_'Hey, Asshole,' Geoff heard from way down the corridor, and yet he still knew it was an insult intended for him. He smirked to himself. Getting into fights had become almost habit for him now, and whereas other students attended clubs and societies at lunch times, Geoff always seemed to find himself getting into some kind of quick-tongued argument, or even a physical fight, with someone._

_Geoff turned, slamming shut his locker as he did. Standing there was one person he seemed to get into fights with more often than he cared to imagine. Joe was a freshman, like him, and had seemed to have had a vendetta against Geoff since the moment they first came into contact with each other. It was always like he was looking for something to hate Geoff for, a reason to provoke him. Originally, Geoff found it kind of unfair that Joe was always out to piss him off, but eventually it settled into routine, and all Geoff cared about was getting one up on him. He was an asshole, and Geoff refused to let him beat him down._

_'Oh, dude,' Geoff said enthusiastically to him. 'I swear to God you're lying to me, man, because today you look even more like your parents are brother and sister than you do normally.'_

_Geoff gave a snarky smile, admiring his own remark. Before he even had a chance to think of a new one to fire, Joe's hands were slamming into the lockers either side of Geoff's head. They were about the same height, so their eyes were directly opposite each other._

_'How about you,' Geoff started, grabbing the collar on Joe's shirt and shoving him backwards. 'Get the fuck away from me.'_

_As Joe started to regain his balance, murmurs started moving around the crowd that had now gathered around the boys. Geoff and Joe fighting always promised a good turn out. It was like a public event that people didn't want to miss._

_Joe gave Geoff the angriest, dirtiest glare, and caught him off guard from his laid-back posture as he grabbed Geoff by the shoulders and forced him into the bit of wall that extended into the corridor. Everyone swore they heard a silencing crack as Geoff hit the corner of the wall right between his shoulder blades, and fell to the floor. Refusing to be defeated, Geoff primed himself to get up and lunge back at Joe. He didn't notice what his opponent was doing, though, and didn't have time to catch him retrieving and assembling something from his bag before Geoff was ready to get up._

_As he began to lift himself up, using the wall as support behind him, he suddenly felt a hot, acidic burn swarm through his leg, and Joe right in front of him, breath warm on Geoff's sweating face. His shiny, white teeth contorted into some kind of twisted grin as he pushed the syringe head down, forcing the liquid in his weapon to pulse through Geoff's veins. 'One day you'll get it,' he hissed. Geoff didn't even hear himself yell, as he was too focused on the overwhelming heat and cloudiness descending through his brain. The ache that followed the liquid through his leg caused him to fall back down again, unable to pick himself back up to standing position._

_It gave Joe enough time to wrench the needle back out of Geoff's flesh, and run as fast as he could down the corridor and out of sight. Around him, Geoff could hear calls of, 'WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?' and, 'GEOFF, OH MY FUCKING GOD, GEOFF!'_

_Geoff himself felt out of breath, and didn't notice when what felt like the entire governing body of the school submerged around him. The pain and sudden onset exhaustion begged him not to say anything, but shoving those thoughts momentarily to the back of his mind, he forced himself to yell out. 'I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, JOESEPH WHIPLEY.' He could hardly hear himself, but the power emanating from his larynx was there. 'I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU.'_

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god.. The emotions

Geoff hadn't lied when he'd told Griffon that he'd had to go to hospital because of his mother's fear of him contracting Tetanus. He was rushed straight to hospital after the incident, and was kept in over night so they could thoroughly examine him, and be sure that he wasn't leaving with any kind of dangerous disease. For all anyone knew, the needle could have been used. It could have carried HIV, Hepatitis, all sorts.

After a few days, Geoff was given the all clear, and he found out pretty quickly that Joe Whipley wasn't coming back to school. He'd been expelled on the spot, and his family decided to take it personally, packing up and moving themselves all the way up to Seattle, Washington. The ache that ran up and down Geoff's legs lingered on, and he'd occasionally find himself experiencing hot flushes and headaches, but they did _eventually_ fade away. The words that Joe had hissed at him as he held the needle down into Geoff's thigh rang in Geoff's head. Every time there wasn't noise around him to silence his thoughts, he heard it over and over.

As time passed, Geoff managed to get his normal thought processes back on track. Memories of the incident visited him less frequently, and if anyone ever mentioned it, he'd pretend like he hadn't given it half a thought since it had happened. Sometimes he'd feel intensely ill, and it would always bring him back to that moment, worrying about what Joe had said and what was going to happen to Geoff. When was he supposedly supposed to understand?

He grew up, left home, joined the army, started Rooster Teeth, got married. As time passed and his life experience was filled with happy memories, the stabbing was merely a speck on the plane of his memory. So rarely did it come back to him, that Joe Whipley's words became trails of smoke drifting into the distance, heading off to the day that Geoff would no longer be able to recall them at all.

And then he'd gotten ill. That was when the memories started to poke at him from inside his ribcage, pining for attention. They wouldn't let him forget, and the symptoms were getting extreme, and more severe than he'd experienced before, and yet they were all the same  _sorts_ of symptoms he'd experienced in waves since the incident. Anxiety riddled Geoff as he started to feel the sickness get worse, and he tried his hardest to keep it from everyone: Griffon, Millie, the other Achievement Hunters.

When everyone else started to get ill, too, he worried. He knew it was completely irrational to worry, and that the two things were most likely completely unrelated. But really,  _were_ they likely to be completely unrelated? What if what Joe had shot into Geoff's blood was some kind of sickness that took years to manifest? The waves had been on and off, but persistent nonetheless. And now Geoff was feeling so out of his depth with how ill he was. Joe had told him he'd understand  _one day_ , but was the one day really supposed to be all these years later?

What if that had been what it was? What if Joe really had injected Geoff with something that was going to make him ridiculously sick? But for what benefit? It didn't take long for Geoff to remember that Joe's parents were geneticists. But what kind of parent let their child stab someone else with a potential disease?

Geoff had kept this all to himself when they all started changing. It made sense, in some weird, stupid way. His conclusion seemed like he was tying loose ends, but to him it all seemed to add up too perfectly. And it bombarded Geoff with guilt, because if what he thought  _were_ true, then he was the reason that his co-workers and best friends were getting ill too. He could never, never tell them. But he promised himself that if anything came of it, he would do whatever he could to keep his friends safe. It was too late for him to do anything about it. Years too late.

He understood why Joe had always acted like he'd had something against Geoff. If you're going to have to get a syringe into someone to complete some kind of  _sick experiment_ , you might as well make it seem like it was 'just part of the fight'.

Nothing but the guilt and pain of the situation confirmed Geoff's conclusions. Not until he'd first seen everything in the media about this 'Seph Whipley', promenading around America, waving his 'cure' in the air like a trophy. That's when everything had confirmed in Geoff's mind. It was when he'd first realised how important a decision he'd made to send his boys away, because if Whipley was at all going to come back for Geoff, he sure as hell would come back for the others, too.

It hurt Geoff in a realm he didn't know he could reach to know that he had been the first to have this, and to know that he was probably the only person to have figured out what Seph – as he was now calling himself – Whipley was doing. And Geoff despised him for everything, and not least because he knew that if he tried to come out with the truth, he'd be beaten to the ground just for the dead mix of keratin and bone that protruded from his skull – the dead mix of keratin and bone that Whipley himself was responsible for.

It had made his nightmares worse than ever, and it had hurt him more than ever when Griffon asked him about them. He didn't want to remember where this had all started. It made his gut wrench with regret that he'd ever gotten cocky with Whipley. The gratitude Geoff felt for the fact that Seph had been Joe when he'd known him, and therefore when he mentioned his name to Griffon, she didn't suspect. Joe was a fairly common name, could have been anyone.

But now here Geoff was, hands pulling at his hair like his life depended on ripping it out, his wrists leaning into the ends of his sharp horns. Geoff thought that coming to California was a good idea. He thought he'd be able to make a new life for himself here. Despite how much he struggled with his anxieties and problems, the fact that he couldn't even utter the name 'Gavin' or 'Jack' or 'Michael' in his mind before he wanted to wash them out with a bullet, he still thought he could do it. But now he knew that Whipley was after him. Whipley had  _always_ been after him, and if he were to find what he was looking for, his path would lead him to the door of his wife and daughter.

And Geoff couldn't let that happen.

There was only one option that Geoff could take from here. It was the last move he ever, ever wanted to make, and he knew that it would destroy the last bit of Geoff Ramsey he had left in him. The man who got new tattoos in his spare time, and could always be found on the floor, laughing uncontrollably at yet another fuck up of one of his best friends. The man who used to love life, who always had a story to tell, that man was about to die. As soon as he made this last move.

He sniffed, sitting up, and wiping the sweat and tears off and around his face with the back of his hand. Geoff fingered the lightning bolt tattoo that sparked down the side of his thumb. It had caught his eye, and it reminded him of how much this was about to hurt. It would be his constant reminder that Griffon would always be there to hold his hand. Even if he couldn't be near her any more.

He stood up. If he had to do this, he was going to do it quickly. Rip it off like a bandaid. He picked up his keys from one of the side tables, and shoved his wallet into his back pocket. Looking around, he couldn't see anything else he'd need.

He sneaked quietly into his and Griffon's room, his wife stirring at the noise of Geoff coming in. 'Hey,' she whispered, drifting into consciousness just to greet him, and then back out to sleep. Geoff wanted her to stay asleep. He didn't know how he would be able to cope if he had to face Griffon, and he hated himself for it. After a few seconds of looking longingly at his beautiful wife, he snapped back into action and scooped up a load of his clothes that were left lying around. He didn't have enough time or patience to sort through them all properly, he just needed to grab whatever he could.

Back in the kitchen, Geoff managed to find a plastic back that he could stuff his belongings in, and knotted the top together so nothing fell out. He gripped onto it, becoming stupidly aware that this was all he had left now.

And now it was time for the worst part.

If Seph Whipley did come looking for Geoff, then his family were in a lot of trouble. His wife and daughter meant more to him than anything else in the world, and he knew that their safety took priority over his happiness. He could feel his heart disintegrating inside of him, knowing that the only way to keep it together would be to stay. Geoff guessed he'd just have to go through life now knowing that pieces of his broken heart would lie sunken to his stomach forever.

The first room he went into was Millie's. He opened the door as slowly and quietly as he could. His beautiful daughter slept innocently in her bed, the pink stripe in her hair splayed across her pillow, visible even in the dark. Geoff knelt down by her bed, careful not to wake her. He took her hair in his hand, running it through his fingers. His other hand lightly touched her face. His beautiful baby, and he didn't know when he'd get to see her again. If.

He wanted to rest his head down onto hers, but he didn't want to hurt her with his horns. Geoff closed his eyes, trying to keep the bad thoughts out. His daughter was innocent in all of this, and he was the venom running through this family's veins. Trying to suppress the tears that had begun to well behind his eyelids, he placed the lightest kiss on her forehead, whispering to her goodbye. Whispering that he loved her more than she'd ever know.

He pulled back, and looked at what he was about to leave. Picking up his bag of things, he stood up and walked out the door, turning around to just whisper into the room, 'Night, sweetie. I love you so, so much.' If she didn't get to see Geoff for a long time, he wanted to believe that he'd left part of himself there with her.

Geoff shut the door, barely able to hold himself upright with how much he wanted to break down in that moment. But he wasn't gone yet. He still had one more goodbye to make. And then he had to get himself out.

Griffon didn't stir when Geoff came into the room this time. She'd clearly fallen into a deeper sleep, perhaps believing that Geoff had crawled into bed beside her when he'd come in earlier. Geoff took a deep breath, and tried to clear his vision by blinking the tears out of his eyes. It didn't make much of a difference, so he sat himself on the bed anyway.

Griffon was on her back, her head pointed away from Geoff. The only light in the room came from the open door, and yet the way it reflected off of her cheekbones, the way it landed on her golden hair and illuminated the smooth outline of her arms, it all reminded Geoff that even in the darkest of times, Griffon would continue to radiate beauty, and would always be the most outstanding woman he'd ever seen in his life. He took her hand in his, turning it over and tracing the lines on her palms, ending at the lightning tattoo that matched his, and pressing them together.

That was too much. Geoff couldn't hold it in any longer, and crumpled down, putting his face in Griffon's hand. Tears ran down Griffon's hand and arm, and the entire bed convulsed as Geoff shook from crying. He choked down any noise he might make, desperate for Griffon's sleep to go on peaceful and uninterrupted. If she knew what he was going to do, she would never let him. He couldn't let her put herself in danger for him.

Geoff did his best to lift his head up and calm himself down. He wanted to leave with a clear image of Griffon in his mind, not with one filtered by the smear of tears. He ran a hand through her hair, curling it off to trace her jaw. Geoff hovered one thumb lightly over Griffon's lips, taking him back to all the times he'd kissed them, and all the time he would desire them from now.

He could feel his face beginning to crumple once more, so he pulled his hand back, and picked Griffon's up, bringing it to his lips, and kissing it just like he had when he'd asked her to marry him. There he stayed for a few seconds, taking in her smell, her feel, her essence; all things which he'd be lost without, and yet he'd still have to find his way, because now he didn't have a choice.

'I love you so, so fucking much,' he whispered into her hand. 'You are the  _most. Incredible. Thing._ To ever happen to me. Griffon Ramsey, I  _love_ you.'

Slowly, he put her hand back down to where it had been resting on the covers. Fighting a resistance he'd never once felt so strong, Geoff stood himself back up, his clothes in one hand, and his keys in the other. To say he was ready would have been a lie, but to say he knew he was doing the right thing was a truth that came from the depths of his broken heart.

As he started the engine he knew that this was it: _this_ was the hardest decision he'd ever, ever had to make. And he would never once forgive himself for it. But at the same time, his family meant more to him than he could put into words, and just knowing that he was diverting any danger from them encouraged him that this was the best thing for everyone. Geoff put his foot down on the accelerator, ready to drive away from the two people who meant the most in the universe to him. The people who kept him as human as he could be.

And now that chapter in his life was ending, and it was a chapter he'd planned to live on forever.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first Ryan chapter! eyyy
> 
> By the way, yes I have /purposefully/ left out the names of Ryan's wife and two children. Yes, I know those names are public knowledge, but they have nothing to do with Rooster Teeth and I don't feel comfortable using them.

Ryan looked at himself in the mirror. His cold, tired, dead eyes glared back at him, telling him he both actively despised what he was seeing, but also that he was too tired to fight himself any more. He broke the glare, leaning forward slightly to splash his face with cold water. He'd gotten pretty used, now, to mastering the angle to tilt so that his horns didn't scrape down the wall in front of him, but sometimes he still managed to overshoot it. Today was one of those days.

He decided not to have one of his regular internal arguments over it, though. Ryan's horns were exceptionally difficult to deal with, and he used to scream at himself in his head every time he hit them or knocked them on something, or just any time they would prove to be an inconvenience. Unfortunately, that was most of the time.

His wife proved to be incredibly supportive, but even then, there was only so much she could do to help. The horns were heavy, and caused Ryan a lot of pain down his back and neck, and were clearly very obvious, so it wasn't as if he could spend much, if any, time outside. The constant fear he'd accidentally hurt one of his children also brewed in the bottom of his mind, and that was definitely something his wife couldn't help with, because she shared the same fear, too.

All Ryan wanted to do was to have them cut off. Give Griffon her favourite chainsaw and have at them. But she was somewhere else in the country, and doing so would cause Ryan even more problems than he was currently facing. He knew that the horns weren't just dead clumps of protein and bone, but that they also contained interwoven highways of nerves that acted as a stern barrier that prevented him cutting them off.

All in all, he'd learned a long time ago that there wasn't really any hope for him with his hybridisation, and his exhaustion with it all had grown increasingly since.

He groaned as he looked back up into the mirror, and attempted to brush his messy hair out of his face. It was, like everything else, always such a chore, since he'd have to reach his arms up and round his horns, and even then, his hair would either fall forward of them or behind them and have that stupid curtain effect that on a good day he could avoid.

Today was the day that Seph Whipley was making his appearance in Florida. Yeah, he admitted it to himself, he'd been following the stuff about his protests. For Ryan, subtly was not an option, so anyone who made regular hybrids not want to go out in public was a massive threat to him. He'd obviously known that Seph was going to end his tour in Tallahassee, where he was staying, but he'd just decided to hold on and wait it out, until he fucked off back north again. Ideally, they wouldn't even be living  _in_ the city, but it gave his wife the opportunity to go to work, so they had to, really.

It was just the knowledge that he was breathing the same air as someone so genuinely sickening that made Ryan feel so awful.

The Tallahassee turnout was supposed to be the biggest one – even bigger than the ones in Mobile, Montgomery, and Austin. This was the grand finale, and Americans were flocking in from all corners of the country to see what Seph Whipley had to say. Florida was a busy place anyway, but this weekend was about to get even busier. It wasn't anything Ryan wasn't used to, since he'd spent a lot of his life living in Florida anyway, but, he supposed, back then he looked just like everyone else.

Businesses were closing for the day as a sort of celebration, and also to allow all employees to visit the speeches in the middle of the city if they wanted to. This meant that Ryan's wife wasn't going to be in work that day, and so she agreed to go to see Seph's speech. It wasn't as if Ryan could go himself, and she knew that he was interested in keeping up with it. He was wildly suspicious of Seph Whipley, and he trusted his wife to pick up on anything dodgy he might say.

Everything was being streamed, anyway, so Ryan would be able to watch it all from the sofa. He did feel like that was somewhere he spent too much time, but what was the alternative? Go outside? Ha. Ha. Ha.

Satisfied with his weak attempt to neaten his hair, Ryan backed away from the mirror in the bathroom, turning slowly and angling his head appropriately to ensure that he didn't hit, break, or smash anything. He edged out of the room, his vision from the side of his eye as he turned himself to fit through the doorway. He remembered the first time he'd tried to get through a door just to realise that his horns had grown too wide to allow him access. That story used to be funny, but now it was just another jab from an arrow that had a head poisoned with his bad memories.

Ryan leant back on the sofa, getting as comfy as he could, thinking he might be sitting there for a while. Before he turned the television on, he thought to himself to confirm that, yes, his daughter  _was_ asleep upstairs and, yes, his son  _was_ playing happily in his room. He needn't worry about them

Almost as soon as Ryan hit his remote, the news channel whirled into a brightly-lit shot of a stage in the middle of an ocean of spectators. It seemed like a regular hustle and bustle, until the crowd consecutively hushed and cheered as a figure walked onto the stage. It could have been any dishevelled forty-year-old guy, but of course Ryan knew that this particular one was Seph.

He started off his speech in the same cliché way he always did. His speeches were never exactly the same, but they were always structured so he would started talking empathetically, like he  _truly_ understood the  _pain_ that people felt, having to be subjected to living in a world of hybrids. Oh, how hard their lives were. He would always start talking about his  _magical medicine_ , and there would almost certainly be a shoutout to his parents in there somewhere.

But this time he seemed to push past the soundbite political fluff that he usually buttered up his speeches with, and instead got a little more gritty with the details. Either that, or he'd learned to disguise his bullshit even better.

He didn't completely disclose what the drug did, but he tried to explain it somewhat.

' _I understand that there is scepticism about the medicine. I totally get it. And, like I've said before, we know our guy. We're just waiting on him to step forward. Although –'_ Seph paused, pleased with himself that he'd found an opportunity to plug his campaign again. ' _– With your help, we can get laws passed that mean there is no choice in this. That hybrids get vaccinated, no. Matter. What. But yeah, I get it. Of course, I can't give out all my parents' secrets and tell you how it works. Hell, I'm not even a scratch on my parents' intelligence, and if I were to explain it, it would be an insult on their memory. But what I can say about it, what I can say, is that it works to stop the unwanted messages in the body that allow both human and animal to live inside someone. Once a shot of this has been through a hybrid's system, you'll see, all that stuff you don't want. It'll be gone.'_ He held up the vial of the medicine he always held in every public appearance. The colourless liquid and smooth glass caught the sun, and it glinted high above his head, flaring the light across the crowd. It was the iconic photo of tomorrow.

Sure, it could be that he wasn't allowed to say. Also, it was likely that under such attention from the entire nation, pharmaceutical companies would be on the prowl for any slips that Whipley may give, which they could use to figure out what the composition of the drug was. But even so, it seemed a little bit suspicious that he couldn't say  _ anything _ .

Or maybe Ryan was just too used to seeing the bad in everyone.

_'It's for the best for everyone. We're here to protect the human race. And once my volunteer has shown his familiar face to me, that's when we can prove it.'_

Ryan wondered who this 'familiar face' was, and whether they were stupid enough to actually present themselves to Whipley as his very own personal test subject. The fact that Whipley knew someone who was a hybrid raised a few questions anyway. If he knew a hybrid, surely all of this he was promising would have been done by now – which meant that he'd probably known this guy for a very long time. He'd said before that this guy was the 'very first hybrid'. And yeah, sure, he could have been the inspiration for Seph's parents to start work on the condition. But at the same time, it could just be more than a coincidence that Seph knew him.

The rest of the speech went on, each sentence like Whipley had puked a thesaurus onto it. Everything was made to sound more epic than it really was. It was a bunch of people trying to act like martyrs for a minority that had nothing to do with them. ' _ Look at all this time and effort we put in for you! Look how much we've done for you! You should be grateful! _ ' Ryan snorted in irritation. If people  _ really  _ wanted to help, they'd just treat hybrids like people. These people didn't want to help; they wanted to hate and feel like good people for doing it.

Questions and answers got thrown about, Seph patiently melting under the midday sun as hundreds of people took their turn to ask him their questions. A lot of them were, of course, annoyingly ignorant. A lot were also typical questions that had been answered in interviews or at other points on the tour. But this was made to feel like everyone was involved, so Seph wanted to take the time to listen to each question put his way.

When the cameras closed in on his face, it became clear that every now and then his eyes would dart to the side when he was listening to someone else talk. It was like he was keeping watch on something just to the side, and it was something that Ryan couldn't help but notice.

The questions seemed to go on forever, and Ryan didn't even notice himself drift off to sleep. It was quite refreshing, actually, since having such restricted movement of his head meant that falling asleep comfortably was difficult. It was nice to have done it so naturally for once. How he woke up, however, wasn't so natural.

He was aware of hearing a loud noise, and startled himself upright, staring at the TV to see what had happened. On it was just footage of music playing and people socialising around what was now an empty stage. It took him a few seconds to realise that the loud noise that had woken him was his wife bursting through the door so forcefully, that it smashed into the wall behind it.

He got up, and turned around as quick as he could to see what the fuss was about. It disorientated him a little, due to the weight of his horns, but luckily he had his tail to help him balance himself out. To see his wife come in so visibly distressed was hard for him, but he was way more concerned as to what had happened.

As she burst into the living room, Ryan held out his arms for her to hold as support. His eyes searched her desperate face as she panted, and forced out the words, 'We have to go. We have to get the kids out. We're going, Ryan... Ryan, they followed me.'

The last part made Ryan's ears prick upwards, fanning themselves out against his horns when usually they just flopped. His eyes widened.

'Who is _they_?' he said slowly, scared that he already knew the answer.

His wife didn't answer, and instead said. 'Get the kids.' She ran back out of the room, and Ryan could feel the walls shake with every moments she slammed her feet down on the stairs. Ryan was in shock, his breathing faltering and his balance wavering. Seph Whipley and his crowd of pathetic  _ grunts  _ had followed Ryan's wife home? Why?  _ WHY? _

He could feel himself getting mad at it, and his skull started to heat up, his tail flicking backwards and forwards sharply, and his eyes darkening. It was something he was so suceptible to, and Ryan always had to work exhaustingly hard to drag himself out of it. Usually he was unsuccessful, and would have to see through the bull's eyes for as long as his instincts demanded, but the threat to his children's safety was enough to let Ryan keep in control of himself.

He ran out the room, met by his wife at the bottom of the stairs, who was carrying both of their children. Ryan took their son since he was bigger than their daughter, and followed his wife out to the car, getting his child in as quickly as he could. There wasn't anyone around just yet, but he knew that if they'd been following his wife home, they did not have a lot of time.

And that was proven as soon as Ryan and his wife made an effort to get into the car themselves. Two vehicles screeched to a halt outside their house, grunts ripping out of the doors and moving towards the car. Ryan hadn't yet got in, and instead threw the keys through the window to his wife. 'You go,' he said, urgency thick in his voice. 'I'll come find you after. Take the kids, and get the fuck out.'

'Ryan –'

' _ GO.  _ I'll call you.'

She didn't want to. The idea of leaving Ryan behind in this situation screamed through her brain as a burning invitation to his funeral, but she couldn't stay here with her children in the back of her car, and people who could probably kill them on their lawn. She didn't know if it was a conscious decision, or if her adrenaline impulses were taking over her body, but she slammed her foot on the accelerator to reverse, and sent the car screaming down the street. Away from the danger, away from her hybrid husband who was now left at the mercy of Seph Whipley, who calmly got out of his car and turned to face Ryan.

'Well hey' he said, his smile cocky. 'Ryan, I presume?'

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D

Ryan was a deer caught in headlights. His front door was wide open next to him, but he was pressed up to the wall behind him, the lights blaring from the front of the cars cutting through the darkening evening and shining straight into his face. His heart was beating faster than he even knew possible, and his breathing became heavy and aggressive.

He didn't know what to do. Two halves of his brain were fighting each other, and it seemed there was no victor on the horizon. Part of him wanted to back down and curl up, conceal his horns and act like none of this was happening. The other part of him wanted to lower his head and charge at the men, ripping them to shreds for even coming near him and his family. His foot was kicking into the ground, preparing for it, and Seph caught onto it.

He briskly crossed the lawn until he was right in front of Ryan, staring him straight into his blue, blue eyes. He could see that Ryan's instincts weren't quite at the point of taking him over yet, and that he was consciously restraining himself. So he seized his opportunity while it was available.

In one sudden movement, Seph rammed his hand up to Ryan's throat, like he was delivering an uppercut, pushing his skull back into the wall behind him. Despite not looking particularly built, Seph was a strong guy, and wrenched down on one of Ryan's horns to force him back through the front door so they were no longer outside. Ryan yelled out in pain, but was cut off as Seph clamped his hand around his jaw, pushing up as far as it would go. He kept his other hand on Ryan's horn, angling it upwards to restrain what he could only see as an animal. Seph was shorter than Ryan was, but the crazed look in his eye made him look like he could do anything, and the pain shooting through Ryan's head let him believe that very much.

'So,' Seph said, grinning maniacally; a look that no one had seen through the media, but that Ryan had always imagined he could make with ease. His grin suddenly fell, and he looked very serious. 'Where's Geoff Ramsey?'

'I – don't – know,' Ryan managed to force out through his gritted teeth, but before he could even finish the sentence, Seph loosened his grip, only to bring it back even harder and smash Ryan's skull into the wall behind him. He ignored Ryan's outburst of pain as he twisted his hand that was holding Ryan's horn around, forcing his neck sharply down, and back into the wall.

'WHERE THE FUCK IS GEOFF RAMSEY?'

Some kind of noise escaped Ryan's mouth as he tried to repeat himself and say he didn't know, but Seph was holding his jaw so tight that he couldn't even get out the words. The situation was moving too fast for him to wonder why Seph wanted Geoff, but almost as soon as Ryan attempted to reply, he felt Seph pull his head and smash it back full-force into the wall behind him. He let go of Ryan's jaw, leaving red marks across his face, and his horns. The shattering in Ryan's head stopped him from being able to pull himself up, and his back and horns scraped down the wall behind him as he fell from the impact. He could feel the warm trickle across his neck, but couldn't focus enough to fall into a sense of emergency.

Seph looked like he was making it up as he went along. 'Right,' he said to himself, concluding in his head where he was going to go from here. His teeth were gritted in determination, and he lifted his leg to plant a kick directly into Ryan's ribs. 'Fuckin' animal,' he hissed as Ryan cried out in pain. 'How about you shut. The fuck. Up.'

He stamped his foot onto Ryan's horn, letting it slowly crack under the force. Ryan screamed out, but Seph just pushed it in harder, twisting his body around so he could lean out the front door and call one of his grunts while keeping Ryan restrained.

'Hey! Bring me one!' he yelled out the front door, and before too many seconds passed, one of the men that had come with ran over and handed Seph something. He twisted back around, keeping his foot on Ryan's once-magnificent horn, as he fiddled with what was in his hand. Ryan's face was bruised, and he couldn't quite get his eyes to open fully, but he managed to look up just enough to see that Seph was putting the two parts of a disposable syringe together. Ryan tried to grapple at Seph's ankle so he could try to get away, but his foot came down on Ryan's fingers with a monumental crunch. Blood began to leak from his hand around the sole of Seph's boot, and the damage became more obvious when Seph moved his foot to support him on the ground.

He knelt down so his face was level with Ryan's, even if Ryan's was slightly tilted due to the off-balance that came as a result of having one of his horns damaged. Seph grinned, his tongue flicking across his lips. He held up the syringe in front of Ryan's face. 'You don't know where Geoff Ramsey is, huh? You fucking liar. I'm gonna teach you to protect  _him_ . This was meant for him. Was gonna be something, hm, special, like a li'l reunion. But I guess you'll do. You fucking animals are all the fucking same.'

Ryan was struggling to hold onto his consciousness, but his eyes widened in fear at Seph's words, cutting into him like a knife. Seph grabbed Ryan's non-broken hand, holding it so tight he could hardly feel the blood reach his fingers. 'I waited a long time for this,' Seph whispered harshly, before bringing the needle down deep into Ryan's vein and pushing the syringe end victoriously. Ryan flexed his fingers, the only reaction he could bring about to express his fear and desire to run. Seph held him at his throat to keep him still, but it wasn't needed as his eyes started to gloss over and his body started to shake.

Everything Seph's past had led up to was happening now. Sure, Geoff wasn't the first, but this one had only become infected  _because_ of Geoff. So this one's blood was basically on Geoff's hands. He stood back and marvelled as he could see the change from human consciousness to pure, burning animal in Ryan. He was so proud. The medicine worked. Hybrids would no longer be tainting the human race, but would instead be reduced to the filthy animals they really were.

Seph wiped his face aggressively, ridding it of the distracting film of sweat across it. He wanted to enjoy this moment, watching the animal in front of him recover from its seizure and show him the true power of his parents' creation. He wanted to see just how much of the human body before him was filled with the mind of a bull. If things went to plan, it was going to be all of it.

He was taken back to when he was thirteen. When his parents first handed him the finalised mixture of the disease, complete with a syringe. All the time he'd spent under their command making himself an enemy of Geoff Ramsey, just so he'd have an excuse to carry out his parents' work on a test subject. That moment he'd stabbed him and the hybrid disease was introduced to the world. It was all coming together.

Ryan started snorting aggressively, just the same as any other bull would before it intended to charge. His body couldn't completely contain his anger and aggravation, and the snorting prepared him for battle. His eyes did not have that human essence in them any more. They were blue as always, but they lacked the depth and understanding that humans held in theirs. Even if Ryan wanted to kill Seph right now, his eyes would still give away his intent and knowledge. Here, it was just pure, enraged instinct.

Seph knew he had a few seconds to spare before Ryan would manage to pull himself up, and then he' be in danger. Quickly, he jumped through to the living room and scanned around. He was looking for something very specific, and once he saw it, he pounced on it and ran back out.

Ryan was now on his feet, his feet apart and his stance completely animistic. Backwards and forwards his tail flicked, the movement blunter than it would have ever been before. The animal was utilising it fully, whereas it usually just sat there, existing, when Ryan was mostly in charge of his body and behaviour.

The problem was that Ryan was between Seph and the front door, and Seph needed to get out before getting gored on the end of one of Ryan's horns. His blood flushed from his face, and his heartbeat fired to a rapid hum when Ryan finally pushed off using his legs, and came full force towards Seph. The adrenaline that shot itself into Seph's bloodstream contorted his body so that he missed the lethal swing of the bovine horn, and managed to make a dash towards the front door while Ryan turned around.

He could hear the heavy, charging foot stomps following him as he jumped down the step out of the door, and used what little time he had to pick up a rock from the floor outside. When Ryan appeared at the door, preparing to impale Seph on one of his horns against the car behind him, Seph threw the rock right at him. His aim had never been good, but the overbearing  _crack_ as it hit one of Ryan's horns left him with immense satisfaction. The bull fell backwards with a piercing sound of pain, his shattered horn enough to steal his balance from him.

It wasn't good enough to leave him broken on the floor. He needed something extra. Seph strided back to the front door, and stepped in so he was standing over Ryan's beaten body in the entrance. He knelt down, his face only inches from Ryan's. 'Time to sleep, you fucking animal,' he hissed, as he drew back and landed his strongest punch down onto Ryan's face. Almost immediately there was blood everywhere, and any form of consciousness left in the body beneath him, animal or otherwise, was gone.

Pretty pleased with himself, Seph climbed off of Ryan, wiping his knuckles down his shirt, and kicking the body slightly to get it out of his way. Blood was dripping off of Ryan's face onto the floor, and pieces of shattered horn got caught in his hair as his body moved. What a fucking mess.

He grinned to himself, standing with his shoulders hunched. Seph brought the empty syringe up to his face to see. 'After 27 years,' he said. 'And it fucking worked.' Unable to contain his excitement, he looked at the other thing in his hand – what he'd picked up from the living room. It was Ryan's phone. 'Right. Now. On to round two.'

 


	19. Chapter 19

Ryan could feel himself drift into consciousness, but it wasn't a consciousness he recognised: the sting across his skin, the cold draft cutting over him, the pain that shot from deep inside his brain to every surface of his skull, the mind-numbing agony that interrupted every other feeling, stemming from his horns and pulsating through his nerves. He couldn't move, or, if he could, he was sure the pain would be even worse than it currently was.

He had no idea how he'd gotten like this. The cold air wafting in from the open door in front of him brought his attention to the blood that painted his face and neck, and matted in his hair and the fur of his ears. He guessed it was related to the feeling of crunched bone beneath his skin, but wasn't entirely sure how. He could remember Seph Whipley cornering him, but he absolutely could not remember a big fight. He had to be missing something here.

As the outside environment caught up with the urgency of his injuries, Ryan caught a noise coming from outside. It was a couple of voices talking, and it took him a few moments to realise that it was still Seph's voice. He must have been left here, bloodied and battered, on purpose.

He tried to twist himself so he could pull himself towards the door, but it felt like his skin was containing mounds of shattered bone rather than the structure of a human body. Ryan could taste the stale flavour of past-rage in his mouth, and he could feel unused adrenaline settle in his body. It was an awful feeling, experiencing remnants of the anger you so recently felt. Normally you'd be able to convince yourself that you'd just gotten mad over nothing, but after waking up in a pool of your own blood, more bones broken than not, with the voice of man who wants you dead outside your door, you really start to reconsider.

Ryan somehow managed to muster all his ability to pull himself up to a proper sitting position. He could feel his head angled to the side, stopping the intense nausea that came as a result of his cracked horn. The clarity of the voices outside increased when he became upright, and he could hear that they sounded rushed, like they were trying to get something done very quickly.

'Just get the fuck in there,' he could hear Whipley's voice aggressively hiss to the guy he was apparently talking to. 'I need to know where the fuck he is.'

Ryan managed to pull himself on the door frame so that he had some kind of view of the men outside. His head hung low to one side, and it felt like there was a weight in there, dragging him down and sending pain through his temples. Even so, he forced himself to concentrate on what was happening.

Seph and the other guy, one of his grunts, were hunched over something in their hands. The guy was tapping away violently at it, while Seph shoved his fingers in the way, interjecting with things like 'What's this?' and 'Just fucking press that!' It took Ryan a few moments to realise that their holy grail was his phone.

Sudden panic rose through his chest, and he had to try as hard as he could to stop his tail from beating on the floor in alarm. He didn't know what they were trying to do in his phone, but he knew that if they knew where to look, people could be in danger.

The thing was, when Ryan had realised that Geoff had, at some point, removed the other guys' numbers from his phone, Ryan had just recalled them from a time he'd used them before, and put them back in under fake names. His phone was pretty smashed up, and he got nothing much out of using it, so he always found it easier to remember his friends' numbers for when he needed them. He didn't intend on getting into contact with them after they'd all been separated, but the knowledge that he  _could_ if he wanted to made him feel way more at ease.

'It's just loading, Seph, hold on a second,' the guy tapping at the phone said without looking up. Ryan saw Seph give him the dirtiest glare, but said nothing. After a few moments, the grunt gave the phone a victorious click, and looked up, saying, 'Done. His GPS is being tracked right now.'

_Fuck._ So they had found Geoff's contact. Ryan wanted to smash his head into the ground in frustration, but he was already in so much broken pain that he resisted. It was too late for him to do anything, but it did raise questions in Ryan's mind: how did Seph even know Geoff? And worse, whatever he'd done to Ryan before he'd woken up... Was that the fate Geoff was supposed to be meeting now?

The slight movement of the cold wind became more apparent in the silence as the two men waited for Ryan's phone to spit out the result of Geoff's tracking. Ryan held his breath to catch any words they may share. He was sure that the men thought he was still unconscious, and he was determined not to give anything away.

'Okay, it's showing that over the last few days he's been heading north east from LA. He left on... Monday.' The man looked up to Seph for some kind of response.

'Monday,' he whispered to himself. 'That was when we were in Alabama.' A menacing smile fell across Seph's face, invoking the man to give him an unsure look. He supported Seph's cause, but he could always admit that Seph could be a creepy motherfucker when he wanted to be. 'He's on the run.'

'It looks to me like he's headed to New York, but I can't say for sure.'

'It's fine. Take down the number, and whatever else you need. Leave that here,' Seph said, pointing at Ryan's phone. 'We'll just go now. Tell, uh, you know, that we're going to New York.'

The man looked confused. 'Will it matter?' Seph looked away, like he was impatient, and also like he didn't want to divulge into details too much. 'Yeah, sure. He got in contact with me the other day. So everything's still on.'

'Right,' the man said, punching the numbers into what was presumably his own phone. He looked up and threw Ryan's phone right through the front door without even taking a step closer. Ryan flinched, worried that the weight would catch his horns and send pain shooting down them again, but it missed him. Its smash on the ground didn't seem to damage it any more than it already was, so he wasn't worried about whether or not he could use it.

It suddenly hit him that Seph might come back in to check that he was still an unconscious mess on the floor, but when he heard doors slam and saw the dimming of headlights, he was convinced that they were just leaving him for dead, without even bothering to check that they'd finished the job.

The darkness left behind by the cars was suffocating, and the only noise was of his uncomfortable shuffling on the floor. He managed to reach for his phone, and felt its ominous gloom in his face when he unlocked it. Okay, it was still usable. Now he needed some kind of plan. He was going to try and get up, and if that worked, then he'd call his wife, take them the fuck away from this place, and then he'd follow Whipley to New York. There was no way he was going to be in possession of the knowledge of Geoff's fate, and allow himself to sit back as Seph ventured to carry it out.

It took him nearly five minutes, but Ryan managed to claw himself upright. He hung his head to the side, trying as hard as he could to keep the equilibrium in his ears level. Every time he slightly moved it, he felt like he was going to vomit and fall over simultaneously. It was disgusting, and when he tried to hold his horn to support it, he discovered that even the slightest touch sent shooting arrows of agony straight into his skull.

At least he was up, though.

He could feel the blood drying on his face, and didn't even dare to find a mirror to see what state he was in. He knew it wouldn't be good. But right now he just had to be convinced that he trusted himself to drive to wherever his family were, and then all those hours to New York. It was odd, because he'd spent the last couple of years concealing himself from public, and hadn't driven in all that time. And yet, now, a time when it was most dangerous, life-threatening, to be a hybrid,  _that_ was when he was going to risk driving across the country.

The things you do for people you love.

Balancing had never been such a treacherous task before, and Ryan had to muster all of his effort to hold himself in position. His car keys were hanging from a hook just by his head, and even reaching for those was a challenge. He had his keys and his phone, and his wallet was in the car where it always was. All of his possessions were in this house, but even if he wanted to go and collect them, he probably wouldn't make it five feet before crashing back to the ground, his broken bones turning to dust.

It was kind of like leaving Achievement Hunter once again, when he and everyone else knew that their entire lives were being left behind in their houses. Except this house was still just an empty shell, the emotional connection Ryan had to it not making even a scratch on that of his home back in Austin. It just saddened him that the very last of his belongings were being dwindled away from him by circumstance. He'd never thought he'd have to run away again.

He hauled himself out of the door, the heavy step out of it causing flakes to fall from Ryan's broken horn. He brushed them off, trying not to let it bother him, but he could feel his ear hovering over the cracks and breaks, and the bile rising in his stomach because of it.

The sound of the car engine turning on, and the feeling of the steering wheel under his hands again felt long-lost but familiar. His feet ached to press down on the pedals, but he had to sort himself out first, and make sure that the car was suited to his needs, now that he had appendages that were never there before. A sharp draft blew in when Ryan rolled down the window, the night seeping into the car. But as much as he wanted it rolled up, and cosy, and warm, he didn't have a choice, because it was either that or not be able to fit in the car at all. His horn sat comfortably out the window like it didn't know any better. Ryan side-eyed it, like he was waiting for something bad to happen, but he really just had to tell himself that it was either just risk it and have it out the window, or sit in the drive for the rest of his life while his friends and family were in danger.

Before he lifted off the clutch to leave, he decided it was probably best to check what state his face was in. He tentatively pulled down the sun-shade, the underside of which had a mirror he could look in. Ryan was almost shocked to see a bloodied, battered version of his face staring back, his skin shining with bruises and boasting cuts and gashes. Dried blood crusted around his nose and eyes from where he'd been punched, and what he could see of his horns in the tiny reflection showed dirt, and trenches of cracks along the them. Ryan wanted to reach up and try and clean some of it all off with his hand, but he already knew that he was too tender for that. Instead, he gritted his teeth, pushed the mirror back up, and reversed the car out of the drive.

Luckily, the roads were pretty quiet. Most people from around here had flocked to the city centre, and he knew that there were still parties and celebrations going on there, so few drivers were on the roads. He was grateful for it, since he was so conscious about his horn hanging out the car. It only took one over-zealous protester to get him off the road and give him a one-way ticket to Hell. Not only that, but he was sure that with his messed-up balance and head at a tilt, he was probably all over the road.

Once he was safely on the outskirts of town, he pulled into a lay-by so he could call his wife and find out where she was. He was thankful that it turned out that she was only one town away, which meant it wouldn't take long for him to get there.

When he actually managed to find their location after inter-weaving many of the roads that criss-crossed the town, the reaction his wife had to his injuries made this seem all too real. Fortunately, his children were asleep in her arms, and didn't have to see him like that. But he really wanted to get them away before they even had to.

'What the fuck happened?'

'I don't know. Just – just get in so I can take you away.'

'No, I want to know! Where are we going?'

'I'm taking you home. You, and the kids, you're going back to Georgia. And then –'

'You say 'you' like you're not coming too.'

Ryan sighed. He didn't want to keep his family in the dark, but at the same time, he didn't want to get them involved in something so dangerous. One tiny spat with Seph Whipley had left him a broken mess – an injured animal to be discarded. Who knew what was in store for Geoff once Whipley actually found him?

'I'm going to New York,' he said quietly. 'Because otherwise Geoff's days are gonna be...' He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

There was a pause. 'At least let me drive.' Ryan looked up. He knew he was in no fit state to drive. Of course, there was always the chance that once they got to Georgia, his wife wouldn't let him leave. But he knew that was stupid talk, because he knew that she supported him, and that she wouldn't try and get in the way. He loved her so much for it. She honestly understood.

'Alright,' he whispered, preparing to get out and change seats with her. Once he was in the passenger seat, he was grateful to be away from the wheel. And once he was asleep, he was grateful to be away from real life.

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas eve, guys! Sorry this chapter is a few hours late, it's my dad's birthday so we've been celebrating eyy. Enjoy<3

The bus Gavin had taken from Michael's home state to New York went right into the heart of the city, so, after much deliberation with himself, he decided to get off in Times Square. It was a risky move, considering how much he had to hide himself, and he didn't have much experience with New Yorkers to be able to predict accurately how they'd react. But Michael had agreed to meet him there, and he'd promised that he could get him away quickly, so what else could Gavin do but to to oblige?

It was so weird to him every time he remembered the fact that Michael was a person he had contact with again. His best friend in the world, and he never thought he'd get to see or speak to him again. Yet here he was, pulling up into the place Michael had told him to go. Just a few more minutes and he'd be seeing his boi once more.

The bright lights and beaming sun and hoards of people reminded Gavin of Piccadilly circus, back in London. The way the billboards shone like burning reminders of overruling capitalism disguised to look beautiful, dragging in the tourists to fall into its trap. The way that people moved in more directions than you thought possible, and taxis jammed and beeping angrily, eager to earn a buck before they went home. It was the hub of the city, and a truly majestic place.

Gavin looked down at his phone after he got his few belongings out of the hold of the coach. There was a sharp chill to the air, yet the sun beaming down warmed his skin, and made him wish he could remove his blankets. His wings wanted to stretch and feel the air between their feathers, but he had to remind himself that he had to stay bound.

Gavin hit the screen over Michael's number – something he swore to himself he'd never lose again. It was awkward to hold his blankets up as well as holding the phone to his face, but he somehow managed it, and was relieved to hear only two tones before the call went through to Michael.

'Yo,' Michael said down the line. Gavin was relieved and excited to hear his voice, knowing he was so close by.

'Hey, I'm in Times Square!' Gavin announced.

'Cool, where abouts?' Michael said nonchalantly, which disappointed Gavin slightly. He wanted him to be excited too.

'I dunno, Michael. Under the big advert things! It all looks the same here!'

Michael snorted down the end of the phone. 'Goddammit,' he said quietly, like he was trying to stop himself from laughing. Gavin smiled. That was the Michael he'd always known and loved. 'I'll come and find you, just stand to one side, and don't let people come too near you.'

Michael knew that Gavin had to keep himself covered, but in the short time they'd known each other as hybrids, Gavin hadn't had to do it long enough for it to be a massive chore for him. And back then, he'd had to be constantly reminded to keep himself concealed, since his carelessness often got the better of him. But it had been so long since those days of blissful ignorance, and Gavin was now an expert. He could hardly feel the discomfort in his bound-up wings for the numbness they gave to him. He knew exactly how to hold his blankets so they didn't come off easily. Not only did he know how, but it was habit.

With the ocean of people that flowed past every second, it was no surprise that Gavin didn't notice Michael until he was right on him, shoving him in the chest. Gavin's instincts told him to fly away, and the sudden rush of adrenaline he felt scared him, in case he actually tried to fly. But his nerves calmed when he realised who it was.

Words escaped him at the sight of the grinning man in front of him. Michael didn't look any different to how Gavin had always known him. Sure, he looked a little dirtier, and his clothes a little more worn. But he still had the same red curls and the same beanie over his head and the same aggressive-playful stance. It was like it had only been a couple of days since Gavin had seen Michael, rather than the many months it really had been.

'You gonna say something or not, dumbass?' Michael teased, knowing full well that Gavin was too overwhelmed to react in his usual cheeky nature. Michael could just see in Gavin's eyes that he'd been through a lot, and the exhaustion he felt was clear on his face.

'Michael...' was all Gavin managed to get out. He couldn't lean forward to hug him, since he had too many things in his arms, but it wouldn't have convinced Michael that this moment meant any more anyway.

'Alright, alright,' Michael said, trying to put a blunt end to the soppy romance. Standing under the lights staring into each other's eyes was not how he wanted to spend his reunion with Gavin. 'Let's go get Lindsay.'

He grabbed Gavin's bag off him, and led him across the square. The population of the area made Gavin feel paranoid and nervous, his heart skipping with every sound that emanated through his hollow bones. The only thing that really kept his focus was the knowledge that the man he was following was Michael.

In fact, focusing on Michael led him to notice something strange. 'Michael,' Gavin said inquisitively, once they'd reached the far side of the square, at the mouth of an alley. Michael grunted in acknowledgement as he dropped Gavin's bag so he could stop and listen. 'Why... Why isn't your tail hidden?'

Michael looked down at his backside to see his red-brown tail hanging by his legs, floating slightly, as if lighter than air. Gavin was surprised at Michael's nonchalance; surely if anyone were to spot that, there would be uproar. And it wasn't as if it was subtle.

'Gavin,' Michael snorted with laughter. 'Do you really think the people here give any fucks about anyone else? People only give a shit about themselves. They're all so wrapped up in their own lives, that they don't have the time to notice something like that.'

Something under Michael's beanie twitched, and Gavin figured that ears were a lot more noticeable, since you were met with them as soon as you looked at someone. Gavin knew that Michael had always been kind of self-conscious about them as well. The fact that he shared a shocking amount of DNA with a cat wasn't something he was proud of.

'That's so weird,' Gavin said. It was an understatement. Where he'd been living, he'd had to take every precaution he could to stay hidden. If there had been so much as an echo in the wind that made people think a hybrid was nearby, there'd have been serious trouble. Yet here Michael was, his appendages lazily hanging out like they didn't even exist. And in one of the busiest parts of the country, at that. It made Gavin realise that a lot of the stress and anxiety he'd had over the last however-many months could have been saved if only Geoff had given him a better state to migrate to.

'Yeah, well,' was all Michael said, before picking Gavin's bag up again and leading him down the alley in front of them. Gavin didn't really like the ominousness of it, and it made him feel kind of claustrophobic. His wings itched to burst out of their restraints and take him away.

'Relax,' Michael said upon noticing Gavin's discomfort.

They rounded a corner and were met with a dead end. Before the wall that cut them off stood a familiar face. 'Lindsay!' Gavin said happily, and ran forward towards her. Lindsay looked very happy to see him, throwing her arms around him and saying, 'Gavin! It's so good to finally see you!' He could feel her hands push against his wings, but the interaction was nice. It reminded him of the way Meg would fix and play with them, and it gave him some comfort.

When they pulled away, Gavin was confused to see Michael dump his things, like this was the final destination of their journey. 'So, where's your place, Michael?' he said, encouraging Michael to convince him that they did, in fact, have a home, and the street wasn't where they slept.

'There's a place down the road we can use. Made some friends when we got here who let us have a room if we needed it.'

'They left, though,' Lindsay cut in. 'But they said we could still stay there if we wanted. When we heard you were coming, we went back and cleaned a load of shit up, because we thought you'd probably be wanting to stay there.'

Gavin paused for a moment, confused. 'Wait. You guys don't stay there all the time?'

Michael laughed. 'No.'

'What – why?'

'Gotta fend for yourself, Gavin,' Lindsay said. 'I mean, we didn't have anywhere when we first got here. We were just  _lucky_ to meet some guys who could give us a place. It's so easy to meet people who will hate you here, though. So you gotta keep moving around.'

Michael scoffed as if all this was really obvious. 'If we'd have stayed in that place every night since we got here, Gavin, we'd have been dragged out of our beds and beaten publicly a  _long_ time ago.' Lindsay confirmed with a happy nod.

'That's nuts!' Gavin said. Michael knew that Gavin would mainly be shocked because he'd think that their way of living was dirty, and peasanty, and that they were above it. But, if Gavin really wanted to be with them now, he was going to have to get used to it.

'Yeah, well,' Michael said, repeating what he'd said earlier. 'Animals adapt and survive, Gav.'

Something sunk in Gavin's chest. It was sad to see that, even though Michael and Lindsay had been presented with a home where you could be a hybrid openly without being dragged off to die, they had still reduced themselves to animals. Gavin's situation, it seemed to him, had been much harder, and yet the fight he'd put in to keep himself safe kept the humanity alive in him. He didn't see himself any less than he ever had. And yet Michael and Lindsay, who were treated way more like humans than he was, had already accepted that they were somehow  _less_ than human.

Michael could see some sort of discomfort in Gavin's expression, and rolled his eyes. 'Fine, I'll take you there now.' Lindsay perked up, ready to follow them. Really, Lindsay looked happy to be doing whatever. Gavin didn't know if it was the husky side of her, or if it was just the wonder of Lindsay Jones.

The flat was a couple of streets away. Gavin still couldn't get over how Michael was just letting his tail free. From the waist up, he just looked like Michael. But from the waist down, he had hybrid written all over him. Lindsay was wearing a beanie, like Michael, but she also wore a coat that mostly concealed her tail. Granted, hers was harder to hide, but at least she'd tried to.

Not that Gavin had expected the Joneses to be living a life of luxury, but he was surprised at the state of their so-called home. The front door looked like it could be knocked in by a five year old, and the inside was dank and dusty, the little natural light available rotting in the thick air. There was a subtle smell of marijuana, which Gavin suspected was a relic dissolved into the dirty carpet from residents long gone.

'Welcome to our palace,' Lindsay said in her classic tone of deadpan sarcasm. Michael would moan if he saw Gavin's disapproval, but Lindsay just used it to fuel her humour. It made Gavin feel more at home.

'Alright, your fucking majesty, come on,' Michael said, grabbing Gavin's things and taking them upstairs. The thin wood creaked under their feet, but somehow it managed to hold up enough to allow them to all reach the landing.

The upstairs wasn't half as bad as the downstairs. The walls were bare, but mostly clean, and light got through the windows with far less difficulty than they did on the lower floor. There was actually a view of the street from the windows, whereas downstairs, the only view you got was of the grimy brickwork of the next-door house.

Michael took Gavin through to a room, where Gavin spotted a load of Michael and Lindsay's things. Clothes, chargers, pillows and a duvet cover. Their things were stocked in the corner of the room, and just above them on the windowsill, Gavin was pleasantly surprised to see the stupid photo of Geoff that Michael had loyally kept on his desk at work.

'There,' Michael said, throwing down Gavin's things next to his and Lindsay's. 'This is your home now. Better?'

The comment was so throwaway, but the welling in Gavin's chest told him that  _yes_ it was so much better. Sure, the house was kind of falling apart. But it wasn't a hotel room. Sure, he still had to hide his appendages, even if Michael didn't. But he had that back in Kansas anyway. Sure, living the life Michael and Lindsay had wasn't going to be easy. But at least he now had Michael and Lindsay.

Yeah, this wasn't the best home Gavin had ever had. But it was the best thing he could imagine having right now.

 


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY CHRISTMAS, GUYS! Enjoy chapter 21!

Geoff pulled over at the side of the road. He hadn't been driving for two hours before he decided he couldn't do it any more. Rain had started to come down heavily, and it all just got too much, so he pulled into the first lay-by he could. The sound of the rain hammering down onto his car, and the empty blackness of the night time around him reminded him of how cold, alone, and scared he was. He wanted so desperately to be holding Griffon in his arms right now, snuggled up beside her in bed. He wanted to know that he could give his daughter the biggest hug ever in the morning when she woke up. Instead, his only company was the reflection staring back at him in the cold glass.

When he'd left, he hadn't even decided where he was headed. He could go and find Ryan down in Florida, but that meant going into the south, which was dangerous territory for him. Not only that, but he'd left his own family to keep them safe. He didn't want to be the reason Ryan's family got put in danger.

He could go up and find Jack, but he'd known when he'd given Jack his location that he'd be able to build himself a life up in Washington. Geoff knew that, if anyone was going to succeed in moving on and living like normal, it was going to be Jack. He didn't want to sabotage the potentially good future he'd given Jack the opportunity to live.

Gavin and Ray were both too far south for Geoff to feel at all safe. The only person left was Michael. Geoff partly felt about Michael and Lindsay the same as he felt about Jack and Caiti: it was entirely possible that they'd be able to rebuild their lives up in New York. But there was something in Michael and Geoff's friendship that made Geoff know that Michael would rather give that up than let Geoff suffer. Geoff didn't want to be responsible for Michael's unhappiness, but he  _had_ sent Michael to New York because he knew how to fend for himself. So Geoff highly doubted that playing little house on the Prairie was what Michael and Lindsay were doing right now.

And he really needed the shelter and security.

He cursed at himself as he did it, but Geoff pulled out his phone from his small collection of belongings that sat on the passenger seat, and scrolled through his contacts until he found Michael. Regret instantly filled his mind for not deleting the numbers before, because now he had no excuse not to. He bit down hard on his lip as he pressed the button, preventing himself from hitting his horns on the steering wheel in frustration.

'Uh, hello?' Geoff heard on the end of the phone. Michael's voice was an injection of relief to Geoff. An injection which he didn't realise he needed so much. He heard some noise in the background, followed by Michael saying, away from the speaker, 'Gavin, shut the fuck up, okay?'

Wait – what?

'Hello?' Michael said again, waiting to find out the identity of his secret caller.

Geoff waited almost a second too long before he croaked out, 'Michael?'

Silence hung on the end of the phone. The only things Geoff could hear was the heavy rain surrounding him and the dull crackle of the phone line.

'Geoff?'

In the background, Geoff could hear Gavin's voice squawk, 'Geoff? How the hell are you talking to Geoff? Michael, are you having a laugh?'

' _ Shut. Up.'  _ Michael moved closer to the speaker. 'Geoff? What the hell? What's going on?'

Geoff could spill everything right there and then. He could tell Michael that he knew that Seph Whipley was out for his blood, and that he'd just run away from his family in the middle of the night, and was leaving California in the pouring rain, being forced to stare out to the empty blackness that reminded him of why he wanted to be dead right now.

'I'm, uh...' He wasn't going to do it. 'I'm on my way to New York. I'm gonna come find you in a few days, okay?'

'Wait, Ge –' Michael couldn't finish before Geoff clicked hard on the hang-up button.

No, he wasn't going to do it. He wasn't going to do that to Michael, and he wasn't going to do it to himself. Right now he was just relieved that he'd been in contact with Michael, and he knew he was okay. How Gavin was with him, he had no idea, and he had a feeling that this plot went a little deeper than his own problems.

But right now, all he wanted was to sleep. And luckily, the drum of the rain on his car matched the pounding of the thoughts in his head, so it didn't take long for him to finally drift off.

 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jordan Whipley: everyone's favourite underdog!

The hammering on Jack's door was enough to wake him up from his rocky sleep. He hadn't gotten to sleep until the early hours of the morning, as he and Caiti had been up, keeping an eye on the celebrations that came as a result of Seph Whipley's appearance in Tallahassee that night. For some reason, Seph had left the scene very quickly after he'd finished his speech, even though everyone had expected him to stay for the party.

There had been some celebration in Seattle, but not that much. There were people here who definitely agreed with Seph's ideals, but in general people were quite impartial. Or, at least, were so as long as Seattle didn't have a thriving hybrid problem like much of the rest of the States.

Jack rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, pulling open the door. His hair stuck up at odd angles, and it was definitely too early for this. He was surprised to see the face of Jordan Whipley looking back at him as he opened the door. If Jack had realised that his ears and tail weren't concealed, he might have reacted with more urgency.

Even so, Jordan didn't seem to notice. Instead, he seemed excited to be telling Jack something. 'So, turns out being the little brother of a crazy protest leader has its advantages,' he said, his breath quivering with anticipation. 'I know where he's going.'

Jordan had said it like it was some big reveal, but Jack didn't see the relevance. 'Surely it'll be on the news anyway?' he said, his voice trying to cut through the sleep in his throat.

'No?' Jordan said, slightly irritated. Hadn't Jack been paying attention? 'He's gone to find the first! The guy I told you about. He's not gonna make that a public thing. Who knows what he might do the guy...'

Jack's reaction was underwhelming in comparison to the sudden shoot of realisation that ran right through him.

'But I know where he's going. Don't ask how, I just... But the point is, I know. And if you want, I can tell you.'

This was unreal. Jack had been sent away from the people he knew and loved, and had been forced to make a new life for himself, and now he was being giving the opportunity to track down, and essentially corner the reason. It became suddenly obvious how lonely Jordan Whipley must feel, and how alienated by his terrible family he was. The attention and willingness to listen that Jack had given him had clearly opened up something in Jordan, and by just being a good person, Jack now was being given the information he needed to find Seph Whipley and face him himself.

He could stop so much with this. He was only one man, but Hell, he had a  _lion_ dormant inside him, and with the right gear, he'd always known he could tear someone apart. Of course, murdering Seph Whipley was not his desire. But anything he could do to try and keep people safe, he wanted to. Geoff had sent them all away to stay safe, but now it could be Jack's turn to keep the man Seph was hunting – the 'first hybrid' – it was his turn to try and keep him safe.

It was such a massive decision to make, but Jack's deepest instinct leapt out and spoke before he had a chance to stop them. 'Yeah. Tell me,' he said. Jordan's eyes lit up.

'Okay,' he said, leaning in, just in case anyone walking by would be able to hear their conversation. Jack didn't even notice his ears flick forward to hear better, nor his tail stretching backwards to keep him balanced as he leant in. 'New York City,' Jordan whispered. 'He's goin' to New York. You gonna go get him, Jack?'

Jack nodded very slightly, looking just past Jordan in a pensive stare. He stood back upright, thinking. All he'd done was woken up, and now he pretty much had to go. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knew Seph's private location and had done nothing about it. Especially if any harm came to anyone as a result.

'Meet me just out here in a couple of hours,' Jack said, avoiding the question. 'I have to talk to my wife.'

Jordan looked slightly disappointed, but from what little he knew about Jack, he would have been convinced that Jack wanted to go. All he hoped was that his wife wouldn't get in the way of that.

'Alright,' he said, giving Jack an acknowledging tap on the arm.

The door closed between them, and Jack was left standing there before he managed to turn around and walk back into the apartment. On his way back in, he caught his reflection in the mirror that hung from the wall. A sudden panic shot through him as he noticed his ears and tail, out for the world to see. How had he been so careless? Why didn't Jordan say anything? That could have been a fucking disaster!

The one thought that calmed his nerves was the fact that Jordan probably hadn't mentioned it because he  _didn't care_ . That's what really made Jack trust him; sure, he was from a shitty family, and his brother was practically a raging sociopath, but Jordan stood by his own morals, and had his own life that wasn't dictated by other people's ideals. Jordan was Jack's friend, and therefore Jordan really couldn't care less if Jack was human or hybrid. He just wanted to put an end to his brother's hateful regime.

'Caiti?' Jack said cautiously as he went into the living room. He could see Caiti in her pyjamas cooking bacon in the kitchen. Her voice rang happily as she responded with a drawn out, 'Yeeeessss?'

Jack went through to the kitchen, putting his hands affectionately around Caiti's waist and lightly kissing her neck. She giggled, and hunched her shoulder, Jack's beard tickling her skin. Turning her head slightly, she was able to catch his lips with a kiss of her own. 'What is it?' she said, giving him a smile that could bring the world to a halt.

'I need to talk to you,' Jack's tone was solemn.

'Oh..?' Caiti turned, still between the stove and Jack. She hit the gas off so that she didn't burn herself or the bacon, and put her hands on Jack's, searching his eyes.

Jack took in a deep breath, and raised his eyebrows. He knew this was going to be a lot to swallow. 'I think we need to go to New York.' Caiti's jaw dropped in a way that made Jack feel like he was looking kind of crazy right now, but he kept on. This was important to him, and he knew that if it was important to him, then Caiti would listen. 'Seph Whipley is done with his tour now, at least of the south. But, he's taking his hiatus in New York. And he's probably going after that guy he spoke about. I just... I can't live knowing that I have the opportunity to maybe go after him right now, and that I'm just stuck here in Seattle.'

'Jack, I...' Caiti didn't really know where to begin. 'How the hell do you know that he's in New York? And what makes you think you're going to be able to stop him?' Her tone was harsh, but she softened it before continuing. 'I understand how you feel, Jack. I just don't want you getting hurt by something that's much bigger than yourself. One man can't take on the full force of America's most wanted.'

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Caiti put her finger up to stop him, making his elongated canines nip down on his lip. 'You aren't an animal, Jack. It hurts me to see you falling to those beliefs.'

He took Caiti's hand away from his mouth, and interlocked his fingers into hers. He understood everything she was saying. He didn't want to uproot her from this place, either. He'd already done that to her once. It was so unfair to ask it of her again.

'You know I will do whatever I have to to support you. If it's important to you, it's important to me. I'm not sure what, or how, you're hoping to achieve here, but if it's something you want to do, then I'm right there beside you.' Caiti looked up into Jack's eyes. She didn't want to have to leave, especially for a cause that could put her husband in so much danger. But she wasn't going to leave Jack on his own, not ever. And she knew he'd be the same for her. 'We'll leave in the morning, okay?'

Jack couldn't help but be surprised at Caiti's reaction, but was overcome by her support and understanding. All he ever had to do was have one conversation with her to be brutally reminded as to why he was so in love with her. He couldn't think of a more perfect person he could have as his lifelong ally and partner. All he could do was take her in his arms and give her the biggest hug of gratitude he could.

'This is why I love you,' he spoke into her soft hair.

'Yeah,' Caiti said, grateful that he couldn't see the concern on her face right now. 'I love you too.'

 

Jack made his meet with Jordan snappy, since he had to help Caiti pack all of their things so that they could leave the following morning. Jordan completely understood, and was really just happy that Jack had agreed to go through with this. Jack did have a slight unease about it, but every reason why he _should_ be doing it flooded those feelings out, or at least, drowned them enough so he couldn't hear them any more.

Jordan agreed to see Jack and Caiti off the next day before they left for New York. His excitement about the situation was very clear, and Jack felt he had to keep up his motivation to made Jordan proud. After all, that kid deserved a bit of hope, after all he'd been through.

When Jack and Caiti got in the car, the back piled with their things, both old and new, they both felt a sadness about leaving their new home. It didn't compare to the feelings that had come with leaving Austin, but they'd really tried to build a life for themselves here, and it still didn't feel good to be leaving it behind.

This journey wasn't going to be peppered with romantic trips to wonders of the world, it wasn't going to be creamed with comfort and sight-seeing. Jack wanted to get to New York as fast as he could, and since they were on the opposite side of the country, it was going to take some dedication to get there quickly.

They waved goodbye to Jordan, and Jack thanked him for the help, before taking their last breath of fresh Seattle air, and driving away.

Jordan stood for a while, watching as their car disappeared until it was out of view. Once he couldn't see them any more, he whipped out his phone and started tapping on it. Things were happening now, and the gears were really being set into motion. Jordan was going to make sure that Jack found Seph if it was the last thing he did.

It only took a few moments for Jordan to get round to an inconspicuous garage behind the apartment buildings on Jack and Caiti's street, and even less time to unlock one to reveal a shiny, black car. He climbed into it, and started pressing buttons on the in-built screen on the dashboard. On it glowed a map of the route he was about to take, and a purple dot that moved along the road.

'Alright,' he sighed, rolling his neck to prepare himself for the long journey. 'Let's do this.' Jordan caught himself smiling in his rear-view mirror, and took a moment to appreciate himself. Oh yeah, things were going to go  _great_ .

 


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHICH TEAM WILL BE DOMINATING THIS CHAPTER? FIND OUT NOW

The sound of traffic hardly rung a note in Ray's head any more, since he was so subjected to it that he'd stopped noticing it long ago. He and Tina had spent their entire time in this God-forsaken state moving around, and Ray spent every day he had lying by the road, hoping that he could squeeze a drop of entertainment out of watching the traffic. Boredom wasn't even a feeling any more – more like a default setting.

It was the day after the final protest speech, and the traffic travelling through from Florida was horrendous. It seemed the majority of people had opted to travel up through Savannah and hug the east coast, but then Ray suspected that the route via Charlotte, NC was probably just as busy.

On a quiet day he could have his ears out. People didn't tend to look to the side of the road when they were focusing on driving, especially on such a long journey. He knew this pretty well, judging by how much Tina just didn't have the patience to look at anything but the road when they were travelling. Today, however, he'd opted to keep on his beanie. When people were stuck in such a backlog of traffic, they liked to look around, eyes searching desperately for anything that could relieve them of their boredom.

When it got to midday, Ray made his way back to the motel in which he and Tina were currently staying to get something to eat. They'd decided that once the protests in the south had died down, they'd think about getting a place more permanent. But even though Seph Whipley was falling silent for now, it didn't mean the people would, and so they were waiting it out just a bit longer.

Just like every day, once he was done eating, Ray came back outside. It was his mind-numbing, mundane routine, and he had absolutely no reason to convince himself to break it. The most exciting thing to happen to him was to see that the traffic had perked up a little. Maybe this time he'd find watching the traffic more fun. Ugh. What would really be more fun would be to run out  _into_ the traffic.

The hours seemed to float by without him even noticing, and before it felt too long, the sky was setting into a comfortable muted orange, the air thick with light pollution left over as the sun began to set. Ray wasn't even aware that he was paying any attention to his surroundings until something caught his eye faster than he could compute.

The traffic was lazily moving along, which gave Ray plenty of time to contemplate the sight he was seeing. Over and over in the space of a second, he questioned himself about the possibilities of what it meant, but they all led to one answer.

As fast as his legs could carry him, Ray was back at the motel, dragging Tina out to the car. They were planning on leaving that evening, anyway, so all of their things were packed in the back of the car. All that needed to happen was for Tina to drive them away.

'But why, Ray? What's so important that we have to go right now?' Tina asked, pushing Ray away from tugging her clothes any more. She wasn't mad at him, she was just confused about the sudden burst of enthusiasm in her boyfriend. She supposed she just didn't want to get her hopes up that he might be getting back to his normal self, because, well, why would he be?

'If we don't go now, we're gonna lose him!' Ray said, holding open the driver's door for Tina to get in. She didn't budge.

'Going to lose  _who_ ?'

'Okay,' Ray said, leaving the door open and coming towards Tina. Their faces were level, and he looked sincerely into her eyes, eyebrows raised as if preparing her for a story that she might be reluctant to believe. 'This is gonna sound fucking weird, I know. But... I could have  _sworn_ I just saw Ryan.'

Tina's eyes narrowed and her shoulders fell. It was just Ray being stupid again. She hated seeing him get his hopes up about little things that just couldn't be true. 'Ray –' she began, but got cut off almost straight away.

'Uh, okay, how many people do you see drive down the interstate with a fucking massive horn hanging out the side of the car? Also, there's the small fact that it was  _Ryan's car_ .'

'Wait, you're being serious?'

Ray took Tina's arm and pulled her back towards the driver's side of the car. Now she finally believed him, he figured they should get going before they lost any more time. She got in, and Ray raced around to the passenger side, slamming the door behind him when he was sat inside. 'Completely. But we've gotta go now or we're gonna lose him, and I'm gonna go jump in that traffic over there.'

Tina knew Ray's sense of humour too well, but still didn't really appreciate the joke. She turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the parking lot, grateful that she could swing out onto the interstate without having to wait. Ray leant forward across the dashboard, trying his hardest to see down the lines of cars. Before too long, he put his hand on the windshield to mark where he could see the car he was looking for. 'There he is,' he said. 'I can see him!'

The traffic was slow, which meant that Ray could keep a close eye on Ryan's car. They crawled a long at an awful pace for a few miles, when most of the traffic turned off onto a junction. Ray didn't pay much attention, but he was aware that the surroundings looked more familiar to him. All those months spent travelling south-east, and now they were headed up back north again. Goddammit, Ryan.

They managed to worm through the traffic until they were right behind Ryan's car. Ray's heart skipped a beat when he caught a sight of Ryan's eyes in his rear-view mirror. It was true, Ryan could have actually been anyone, and he knew that Tina would have been less-than-impressed had he been wrong. But to be able to see one of his closest friends with his own eyes after so long. It made Ray happier than he could remember being for a long time.

'Honk,' Ray said. Tina looked slightly uneasy, knowing that beeping her horn on the freeway wasn't strictly allowed, but she knew this was really important to Ray, so, after some reluctance, she did it anyway.

Ray could see Ryan jump in his seat, and look up at his mirror to see what was going on behind him. When Ray and Ryan's eyes locked, the shock that pulsed through Ryan was clear. The pure serendipity of the moment meant that neither of them could feel many more emotions other than pure surprise. Before Ryan had to look back at the road so he could continue driving, Ray quickly indicated with his hand that he should pull over. Ryan didn't exactly acknowledge him, but Ray was confident that he was going to see it through.

'Pull over at the next place you can,' he said to Tina.

'Yeah, dude,' she said. She was way ahead of Ray, and didn't need him to tell her. 'There's a place just up here.'

Ray was happy to see Ryan's car pull into the next lay-by just before he and Tina did. He didn't think about how nervous he would be to get out of the car and actually speak to him face to face. Seeing him in the mirror had been like seeing him through a screen: it didn't feel like real life at all.

The only sound was the whooshing of the cars going past them on the interstate as they got out of their own cars. Tina stayed behind the wheel, aware that Ray and Ryan probably needed time to themselves to speak to each other. It had been so long, and Ray was finally getting to see one of his best friends again. She didn't want to get in the middle of that.

'Dude, what the fuck?' Ray was the first to speak, and it was a reaction to Ryan's broken horn. When he'd dropped his family off elsewhere in Georgia so they could go back home to Columbus, Ryan had had an opportunity to wash the blood and dirt from his face, and just generally clean himself up. Unfortunately, he still had to suffer with the agonising broken horn, and the inevitable tilt his head favoured.

'Yeah, I, uh... It got a little messed up,' Ryan said, concluding with the chuckle that Ray never thought he'd miss.

Ryan looked a little uneasy, knowing that the traffic going by would be able to see his horns. He knew that by driving, he was making them obvious anyway, but any opportunity he had to hide them, he'd really rather take. 'Can we, uh?' he said, pointing to the grassy mound that bordered the lay-by. He knew that if they sat behind there, they'd pretty much be concealed from view of the road.

'Yes,' Ray said, like it was the best idea he'd heard all day. He knew why Ryan wanted to, and he would just love to pull his beanie off and let his ears fall free of the restraint.

The two sat down, Ryan being careful not to bump Ray with his down-tilted horn, although it was mostly because he knew it would hurt  _him_ more than anything else.

'I – I don't even know where to start,' Ray laughed nervously. It had been so many months since he'd seen or heard from any of the guys, and now his was with one, and he hadn't even said anything to indicate that he'd at all missed him.

'I know, right? It's just been so long,' Ryan said. Ray was glad they were on the same page.

'I mean – so – how long have you been in Georgia?' Ray asked. 'Can't have been long since, y'know, this wasn't your state.'

'Nah, I was in Florida,' Ryan said, ripping some grass out the ground next to him. His stomach gurgled, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to let the animal get into his head right now. 'I just brought the family back to Georgia.' He was looking down, his gaze averted from Ray.

'What? Why?'

Ryan sighed. 'I'm heading north. I'm not going into it, but I think there's a very good reason why I should be in New York right now.'

It was harmless, but that sentence left a pang in Ray's chest. The guys had never been secretive with each other, except when Geoff had sent them all away. A year ago, Ryan would have told Ray whatever it was he was choosing not to this time. It reminded Ray how separate they'd all become from each other over the months.

Ryan changed the subject. 'So, Geoff sent you to Georgia, huh?' He laughed. 'How are you liking it?'

Ray snorted sarcastically. As if he'd had any kind of enjoyment here. All he spent his life doing was lying by the side of the road, partly wishing that a car would just lose control and accidentally-on purpose hit him. 'It's alright, I guess,' he said. It was good enough for Ryan. He hadn't expected Ray to fall in love with the place.

'Where do you think the others are?' Ray said. He knew that Ryan wouldn't have any idea, he just wanted a reason to keep talking to him.

'I – I really got nothing. Judging by the fact that both you and I were in the south-east, I'd say the others are pretty fucking far away.'

'Maybe someone will be in New York,' Ray laughed. He wanted to lighten the situation. The fact that Ryan had chosen not to tell him why he was going north meant that it was probably something quite serious. Like, he'd even left his assigned state to take his family back to Georgia before he'd even continued. He wanted to inject a little bit of hope into what, on the surface, seemed quite bleak.

Ryan laughed, not really buying what Ray was trying to sell. 'Yeah, well. What are the odds of that happening?'

'I bet Gavin would know,' Ray scoffed under his breath, as he'd often done back in the days of recording for Achievement Hunter. Ryan chuckled, understanding and appreciating the reference.

'No,' he said. 'Gavin would absolutely _not_ know.'

A few moments of silence passed. Ryan really just wanted to get to New York, but now he had Ray with him, he didn't want to leave. He could always tell Ray to follow him along northbound, but he didn't even know how much Ray knew about the Seph Whipley situation. He didn't even know if he _could_ tell Ray what he knew about Geoff. It was so much to handle.

Before he even had to figure out how he'd ask, Ray spoke. 'So am I coming to New York with you or what?'

Ryan was taken aback a little. 'Don't you wanna stay here?'

'Oh yeah,' Ray said, thick with sarcasm. 'Because I'm having all the fun in the world keeping incognito here. Gee, thanks, Ryan.'

Ryan smiled, finding the sarcasm refreshing. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't look at Ray. 'Well, I mean, if you wanna come, you can. It's up to you. But... Yeah.' No, he wasn't ready to explain. Especially so soon after seeing Ray again.

Ray had, admittedly, hoped for a bit of an explanation, but was fine without one for now. He figured that if he and Ryan were sticking together from here on out, he'd find out everything eventually. 'Awesome,' he said, getting up and pulling his beanie over his hair. Back inside the ears went. He already looked forward to having them back out again. But he knew New York. He knew it far too well. As if he'd be able to have any opportunity to be openly hybrid there.

Ryan hauled himself up, his altered balance making it slightly difficult for him. He made sure he didn't waste time getting from the floor to the car, since he didn't want to make himself obvious to passers by.

'Alright,' he said, opening his driver door and getting ready to leave. 'Just get Tina to follow me. We'll probably stop a few miles down the road for a break, or something. Oh, and before I forget –' Ryan pulled out his phone and handed it to Ray so he could enter in his number. Ray eagerly handed Ryan his, too. It didn't take long for them to trade details and hand each other their phones back. It was so good to see some form of contact back in their lives, and it gave each of them a sense of private hope that one day they'd have all the others' back, too.

'Alright,' Ryan said to Ray with a smile, feeling more motivated now he had Ray back on his team.

'Next stop, New York!' Ray said.

'Well, I mean, we need to stop to eat at some point and –'

'Just shut the fuck up,' Ray said. He gave Ryan a satisfied smile in response to the smirk he'd just had thrown at him. Ray turned and got into Tina's car, and couldn't conceal the smile on his face as they pulled away, following Ryan down the interstate to their next location.

 


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exciting things are a-happenin'

Despite Gavin's initial judgement on Michael and Lindsay's way of life, he found that he was more grateful than he'd initially thought for their circumstance. Michael and Lindsay rarely stayed inside, and didn't even come home every night. They hadn't disclosed the identities of any allies they might have had, but Gavin suspected that they knew other hybrids from around the city. It seemed to him like the sort of place where people often teamed up and watched each other's backs. Gavin just hoped that Michael wasn't getting involved in any gang business.

The only times he'd ever been able to take off his harness and let his wings free was on those quiet nights where he and Meg would sneak out of their motel and traipse across the Kansas landscape until they found some sufficiently solitary place where Gavin could be untied from his restraints and allowed to be how his body begged him to be. Now that he had a house he could stay in where he knew no one else would come in, even if it  _was_ in the middle of New York City, he could keep his wings out as much as he wanted. All he had to do was pull down the blinds so that no one outside could see, and boom. Wings open.

Of course, it was never as fully satisfying as having them out outside would be. The only air that ruffled through his feathers was the thick, dank air hanging in the room. But it was still better than nothing, and if he really wanted, he could just lie on his front on the floor and spread his wings out until they crushed up against the walls. He couldn't flap them, but he found that they liked to flicker about excitedly whenever Michael and Lindsay came back in.

Michael would always walk in first, eager to see his boi. He'd give him the biggest grin, and they'd have some sort of tackle. But then there would just hang an awkward silence for a few moments where neither of them knew what to say. Gavin knew that if Michael wasn't telling him anything, then it was for a reason, and Michael had pretty much worn out all of his teasing ammo he had on Gavin. Neither of them liked to admit it, but privately, they both thought that with all the time they'd spent apart, a little part of that bond they had had flaked away.

Two days after Seph Whipley's final protest in Tallahassee, Michael came in slowly, and quite seriously. They hadn't been watching the last few protests that much, since Michael and Lindsay didn't really have TV access. However, Lindsay did promise Gavin that she'd go out into the square to watch it live on the billboards for him on the last day. He wasn't even that bothered about it, he was just grateful to be well away from that part of the world.

It did make him think about Meg a lot, though. And that was a path he really didn't want to go down. Every day he'd try and convince himself that she was safe, and that she was okay.

'You alright, Michael?' Gavin said, concerned at Michael's serious nature that he'd adopted in place of his regular playfulness.

'Yeah, Gav. There's, uh, there's someone here to see us.'

Gavin's heart sank, and he pulled his wings in instinctively, backing into the wall. Were they being evicted? Was someone coming here to hurt them? Michael had said it in a way that suggested he really should be concerned. What was going on?

Gavin heard a creaking of footsteps on the landing outside. The pace was slow, and his eyes widened as he saw a foot in the doorway, followed by some dirty jeans, a well-worn t-shirt, and those tired eyes he would never be able to forget.

'Geoff?' Gavin's voice was merely a squeak.

The man in the doorway looked exhausted, and could only muster a weak smile. 'Hey buddy,' he said. Michael grinned, proud of the sense of tension he'd caused in the room. It had been the exact reaction he'd wanted.

Geoff and Gavin fell towards each other, giving each other the same hug that long-lost family would share. Gavin was so happy to see the man who had practically raised him, and Geoff was overwhelmingly grateful for the familiar, loving embrace of family. Something he'd really missed since running away from California.

Gavin hadn't really paid attention when Michael had been on the phone with Geoff, mainly because he thought he was playing some stupid prank on him. But to see him here and now in the flesh was so good.

'Where's Millie and Griffon?' Gavin said, pulling away. His voice was fully of empathy, something Geoff wasn't so used to hearing from Gavin. But Geoff's eyes told stories that he might never be able to express in words, and Gavin could see that he'd been through a lot. He knew there'd be a reason for Griffon and Millie's absence.

'They're back in California,' Geoff replied, almost ashamed. 'I left without them. It wasn't safe.'

Gavin laughed nervously. Michael stood by, watching, but opted to stay out of the conversation. 'Safe from what?'

'Seph Whipley,' Geoff said in a stern voice. Gavin pulled away, not sure if Geoff was joking or not.

'I mean, he's an arsehole,' Gavin said. 'But he's not targeting you, especially in New York! Why would he be a danger to Griffon or Millie?'

Geoff's breath faltered a little. He gave Michael and Gavin each a look. Well, if this was where he was going to be now, then he might as well get his side out rather than letting it eat him up until it was too late.

'Actually, Gavin, he is.' Geoff's voice was sarcastic, but his face was not. Gavin's twisted smile fell, and a beat tried to erupt from his heart. After that, it was calm.

'Okay,' Gavin said, encouraging Geoff to say whatever it was he felt he had to.

'He is looking for me. He said that the person he was after knew who they were. Well, I do. I don't know how long it's gonna be until he actually finds me, but it's probably not gonna be that long. I left my family because, when he does find me, I want them to be well out of the way.'

'Why the hell would he want you? You're great, and everything, Geoff, but –'

'Because, asshole, I was the first one. You hear him talking about the 'first hybrid' and how they want to do all these tests on the 'first' and make it all special and nice. I went to school with that dickbag, and I  _know_ he's talking about me. If some evil dictator person appears all over the media and starts saying they're after someone, and you know it's you, then trust me. You  _know_ it's you.'

Gavin had always liked pushing the boundaries with Geoff, and walking the line beyond which would get him killed. But he could always tell when Geoff was being serious, and when he genuinely was telling the truth. Gavin didn't even need proof. He didn't need Geoff to whip out the details and the evidence. He just knew when to pipe down and accept what he was being told.

The silence was broken by Michael, who spoke in a tone that was too soft to usually be associated with him. 'So you're here because you're hiding?' Geoff gave him a look of acknowledgement.

'It's bad, I know. I could be putting you guys in danger.'

'Hey – no! If you're in trouble, we wanna fucking help, okay?' Michael's voice was back to its usual harsh self. 'We're not gonna let you just take it.'

Geoff opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted when his phone went off. He suspected it was Griffon, as she'd been calling him a lot on his journey, usually mad, sometimes sad, always worried. He didn't even look at the caller ID before clicking the button to answer, and just put the phone straight to his ear. 'Hello?'

There wasn't any reply, just some kind of whooshy noise that suggested that there was something at the end of the phone. 'Uhh...' Geoff said, before deciding to hang up. If it was Griffon, she'd try again later. Geoff had no idea what that was all about.

'Everything alright?' Gavin said, his gaze following Geoff's hand as he put his phone back into his pocket.

'Yeah, I got no idea what that was.' He paused for a second. 'Okay, assholes, let's quit with the soppy shit. Where can I get a good fucking beer?'


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ray and Tina feels and Ray and Ryan bonding eyy
> 
> .. ONLY TEN CHAPTERS LEFT AFTER THIS ONE

The next day, Ray and Ryan finally reached the city. They'd taken a couple of breaks on their journey. Tina really needed the rest from the constant driving, and Ryan had to have regular recovery times, or else his balance would be so thrown off that he'd get piercing headaches, and his car would begin to drift. He wasn't in any fit state to drive, but since Ray couldn't, and he couldn't just abandon his car, they really had no choice.

They stopped on the outskirts of Statten Island, deciding that it was a better plan to figure out their next move before barging straight into the city. Especially as Ryan's condition wasn't exactly subtle, it meant it would be a lot harder for them to get anything done.

It was so weird for Ray knowing that his family were so close. It was only the other side of the city, and then he'd be in Queen's. Granted, it wasn't his favourite part of the world, but the home and comfort of being with family was really unbeatable. Especially a time like now. His family didn't even know about his condition, but he was sure they'd be supportive.

'Alright,' said Ryan as he climbed out of his car. He had to hold the roof for support as he got up, especially as getting out the door alone involved some cleverness on his part. Navigating with such a lot of headgear wasn't easy, even after the amount of time he'd been living with it. 'So, I say we call Geoff. Find out where he is. Go there, and then tell him what the hell is going on.'

'Right,' said Ray. It was all he really could say, since Ryan still hadn't told him what it actually was that was going on. Ryan sensed this, and added, 'Once I'm through to him, I'll tell you. But I wanna make sure we know what we're doing first.'

This made Ray perk up a little, and made him more determined to progress. Suddenly thoughts of how he'd be seeing Geoff very soon came to mind, and he felt hope again. It was the first time in a long time.

'Okay, I'm just gonna go...' Ryan pointed over to somewhere, and then at his phone, indicating that he was going to make the call. He looked a little nervous, a little unprepared, but he went over anyway, dialling onto the screen. As he did so, Ray focused his attention on Tina. He gave her an encouraging smile, and she gave one back. Except, hers was far less convincing.

'You okay?' he said softly. Tina smiled again. She was tired. She knew awful things were happening, and it really bugged her that there was only so much she could do about it. She could drive Ray to where he needed to be, sure, but she was so exhausted from it now, and just craved being in one place. Being at home with Ray, back in Austin, where they belonged.

'Look,' Ray said, coming over to the driver's side of the car, where Tina was standing. He took her hands in his, and ran his thumbs in little circles over the backs of them. 'I love you. So much. And I am so thankful for everything you have done for me,' he said. 'I don't, obviously, know what is going on here with Geoff, and Ryan... But I don't think it's gonna be sunshine and roses. So...' He trailed off, trying to put together the words in his head before they came out. 'If you need to go –'

'What, Ray? Are you stupid? Why would I leave you?' Tina sounded defensive. Ray let her finish, but continued as soon as she was done.

'I don't see it that way. I really don't. I want you to be safe and happy, and I don't think you will be here. I know you're sick of driving right now, but it's not that far to Maine. You could go and stay with your family for a bit, and then when all this is over we go back to Austin together. Then I know you're safe.'

'And how am I supposed to know you're safe if I'm all the way up in Maine?' She wasn't going to let Ray win this one.

'Just because I'm awesome,' Ray said, smiling as he gave Tina a kiss. She played reluctant, like she didn't want it, but she absolutely did. Ray's affection was one of the only things that kept her powering through the exhaustion.

Tina sighed. She really didn't want to leave Ray. She wanted to be there by his side throughout this whole ordeal. But she knew that he was somewhat right. She didn't know what it was like to be a hybrid, so his judgement on the situation was probably more accurate than hers. She didn't want to leave to keep herself safe, though. She wanted to stay and make sure that Ray was as well. But she knew that if their positions were reversed, then she would be the one telling Ray to leave her behind and keep _him_ self safe. And she couldn't argue with that, because she knew how raw and genuine that feeling was.

'I love you so much,' she said, touching Ray's face, pushing her fingers up through his hair and caressing his ears under his beanie. She gave him a meaningful kiss, and Ray just held her in his arms. He hated knowing that the person who completed him was going to be far away from him, especially after all they'd been through together. But her safety meant more to him than the world.

'Keep yourself safe,' he whispered into her ear. 'And it won't be long. I promise.'

Their fingers remained interlocked until Tina was ready to shut the car door. They exchanged a loving smile, but the plane of glass between them made it feel distant. Tina could see Ryan coming back over, and wanted to get away before she broke down at the wheel. Driving away from Ray was the hardest thing she'd had to do through all of this. But she knew she'd see him soon. All she really had to do was spend a few days up north, and then they'd be together. It would be just like whenever Ray went to a con for the Rooster Teeth.

At least, that's what she told herself.

'What – what just happened? Where's she going?' Ryan said, confusion bursting through his voice as he watched Tina drive away.

'She, uh,' Ray said, looking down at the floor. He was trying so hard not to cry. He sniffed, and lifted his head back up to face Ryan. 'I want her to go stay with her family for a bit to stay safe. Because, uh...'

'You don't know what's about to happen?' Ryan finished the sentence for him. Ray nodded. He understood. It's exactly why he'd taken his family back home. He just couldn't guarantee their safety any more. 'Well, I know some of the next chapter of our story,' he said, trying to encourage Ray's spirits.

'Okay.'

'Geoff's staying just off Times Square, which is going to be terrible with regards to getting through.' Ray knew that Ryan was referencing his horns. There was no way he was going to be able to keep them hidden, but if that's where Geoff was, then they were going to have to deal with it. Ray knew some of the back roads around that area, but he'd never actually spent  _ that  _ much time in Manhattan, so his knowledge wasn't exactly sufficient to guarantee them being incognito. 'But,' Ryan said, almost laughing. 'Turns out he's with Michael, Lindsay and Gavin.'

'What?' That was news that Ray was not expecting to hear. It had been one thing that he and Ryan had happened to have found each other, but the fact that Geoff, Michael, Lindsay and Gavin were all together was insane! Even more so when he thought that there was no way Geoff had sent Michael and Gavin anywhere near each other. Absolutely no way.

'Yeah,' said Ryan. 'Michael's been in New York the whole time, and Gavin apparently managed to find his way here by going to Michael's parents' house and asking  _ them  _ how to find him.'

'What the fuck?' Ray said, amusement present in his voice, too.

'Yeah, I know! I mean, I get they're good friends and all, but actually going that far to find Michael. I gotta hand it to him, Gavin has dedication.'

'Do you know where he was before then? Because, what if he was, like, in Alaska or something? That would be hilarious,' Ray snorted. Ryan's eyebrows raised in amusement, and he shook his head.

'Nah,' he said. 'I don't know where he was before. I guess we'll have to ask when we get there.' He scratched one of his ears, and rubbed the base of his horn, preparing himself for the fact that he was going to have to be the one to drive them into the city. Ray felt guilty, and wished he could take the burden from Ryan, but he, of course, couldn't.

'Alright, well then,' Ray said in a tone that suggested they should get going. The two got into Ryan's car, Ryan taking a little longer to get in than Ray, who had to dodge his head to prevent Ryan's horn from taking out his eye.

'Sorry,' Ryan said strenuously as he pulled his tail out from underneath him, and let it sit beside him on the chair. Ray laughed slightly, assuring him that it was fine. Once Ryan was as comfortable as he was going to be in his chair, he shut his door, and started the ignition.

'So,' he said, looking straight ahead as he pulled away. 'I guess you're gonna want to know why we're looking for Geoff.'

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GEOFF NO - I mean.. What?

Ryan and Ray eventually managed to find the alley they should park in after much heated discussion between Ray and Geoff, followed by Ray and Michael, down the phone. The fact they'd gotten slightly lost had left Ryan with some anxiety, since his horn was quite obviously hanging out the side of the car. Luckily, people didn't seem to pay much attention, but he was still very concerned about it. He wanted to keep them as inconspicuous as he could.

Eventually, it had gotten to the point where Michael was screaming so loud down the phone it was like they could also hear him in real life. Turned out they were only just around the corner, so it didn't take long from then for them to get to their destination. They were greeted by Michael standing in the alley, looking both amused and pissed off at the same time. It was odd, because both Ryan and Ray had expected some emotional reception, but Michael had already made them feel like they hadn't seen each other in only a few days, so there was just friendly hugging. They all felt grateful for the feeling of familiarity.

Michael took them down to his and Lindsay's little place, and as soon as he got through the door, yelled, 'Okay, they're finally here!' Gavin and Lindsay were downstairs, hugging Ray, before Ryan had even finished manoeuvring himself through the door. Once he was inside safely, he held out his arms to hug Gavin. It wasn't something they'd ever done before, but right now they were too happy to see each other to maintain the 'Love 'n' Stuff' stereotype.

Once he'd greeted Gavin, Ryan held out his arms for Lindsay. She fell into them eagerly, thrilled to see him again. Out of all the guys, Ryan was definitely the one she was closest with. Knowing he was safe and alive and with them filled her with so much happiness.

Michael turned around and laughed as he said, 'Alright, well, Lindsay, we had a good run.' He knew that she and Ryan were very close, and it always entertained him to poke fun at it.

Lindsay playfully pulled on Michael's tail, even though he tried to dodge out of the way – she was just too quick for him. Ryan gave a dark chuckle, but his attention was diverted when he heard the grumblings of Geoff as he came down the stairs.

Geoff looked happy to see them, but was steered away out of the room by Ryan before he even had a chance to properly greet him and Ray.

'Alright, hi to you too,' he said, trying to stand upright and brushing his arm down as Ryan's iron grip let go of him. Ryan's face looked serious. Geoff noticed the growth in his horns, and was sure that Ryan could see his too. It was something that the others might not necessarily see in each them, but they both could tell. It was a brutal reminder of how long it had been since they'd seen each other.

'You know what's going on?' Ryan said, ignoring Geoff's sarcasm.

Geoff sighed. Sure. He'd go along with this. Whatever it was. 'You mean the fact that Seph Whipley's after my ass, and I've had to escape all the way to fucking New York because of it?' he said sweetly.

Ryan narrowed his eyes. If Geoff wasn't going to take this seriously, he'd just have to lay down the facts until he did. 'You know he's on his way to New York now, right? In fact, he's probably already here.'

Geoff faltered before answering, this time his voice a lot less certain. 'He what?'

Ryan took in a deep breath. He had, of course, told Geoff that he was coming to New York to find him. But he hadn't told him why, or what he knew. 'You wanna know it all?' Geoff nodded nervously. Terror pumped through his veins.  _ What  _ did Ryan know?

'They found me,' he started. 'I assume they have data on who you work with, I don't know, but somehow he knew I knew you. He must have known who I was. But it was just after his thing in Tallahassee, and he came to where I was living, and he...' Ryan didn't quite know how to finish that sentence, because the memories hadn't fully formed. 'I – I don't even know exactly what it was he did. It just kind of felt like blacking out, and then I woke up with a lot of blood on me, my broken horn –' he pointed to his horn that was tilted downwards. '– And then they'd taken my phone and were tracking your number–'

'How did you have my number?' Geoff said, his voice angry. He'd made very sure that none of the guys had any of their numbers except him.

'I... I, uh, I'd saved it. Because I knew it.' Ryan sounded sheepish.

'Goddammit,' Geoff whispered. He was angry, but mainly as a by-product of fear. He knew that it wasn't actually Ryan's fault.

'Okay, well, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. But anyway, I heard them talking and saying that you were headed towards New York. And then they took down your number and left. So as soon as I could actually get himself up I left too. I mean, on my way is where I found Ray, that wasn't actually part of the plan. But Seph was ahead of me, so if I'm here, he will be.'

Geoff considered Ryan's words, looking directly into his eyes. It made something in Ryan's mind twitch. Bulls didn't like being looked at directly, and it often caused something in them to snap. It took every effort Ryan had to not let it take him over.

Just as it was getting unbearable, Geoff spoke. 'You know nothing about what he did to you? You can't remember anything?'

Ryan looked a little uncomfortable, trying to think back, as well as trying to recover himself from that little scare he'd just had. 'I – I mean... I think he injected me with something. But what – oh God. No, I've just remembered something: what he did say was that he was gonna wait until he'd found you, but did it to me anyway.' Ryan looked at Geoff with a worried expression. 'I don't know what it was, but whatever it was, it was what he had planned for you.'

Geoff's eyes widened. He saw the state Ryan was in. He could see the crack down his horn, and the bruises that were still peppered across his skin. He could see the discomfort and trauma the incident brought him, and how Ryan had either repressed the memories, or it had been so bad that it had knocked them out long ago. And Whipley was still after  _ him _ . Torturing Ryan hadn't been enough, and he was still out for whatever it was he wanted with Geoff. And he was in New York.

The fear that Geoff had tried so hard to force down suddenly burst up, filling his lungs, his heart, covering his skin. All he could feel was the fear of what might happen to him. The knowledge that he'd been a victim of this for twenty-seven years hit him. Everything was moving too fast. He could only just feel Ryan's arms catch him as the comfort of unconsciousness stole him from his thoughts.

 


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the shorter chapters, but trust me, exciting things are to come

'Eyyyy, he's back,' Michael jeered above the hubbub of talking. Geoff stirred, screwing up his eyes as he tried to bring himself to a sitting position. He brought his hand to his face, but ended up scratching the back of it on his horn as he did. Shit, they  _ had  _ gotten long!

'Geoff? Are you okay?' Gavin said, sounding alarmed. It was easy for him to get worked up, and for Ryan to just come up dragging a passed-out Geoff when just a minute before they'd been fine, was definitely something to get worked up about.

Geoff groaned, and put his arm out to stop Gavin from getting too close. He didn't want to be smothered.

'Yeah, what the hell was that?' Ray said. He had an inkling of an idea, since Ryan had briefly caught him up as they'd driven through the city, but he didn't want to make any assumptions.

Geoff looked up, and his eyes caught Ryan's. That shared look said a thousand words, and Ryan felt immediately guilty that he'd told Geoff. He knew he'd had to, and it was all for the best. He just felt bad. Geoff didn't hold anything against Ryan, though. He saw trauma in that man's eyes, no matter how much he tried to wave it off. He was terrified that it might be a fate that he, too, would meet. But it was equally as heartbreaking to know that one of his best friends had already been a victim of it.

'Geoff, I –' Ryan began, ready to spill out his apologies. Geoff pulled a face that cut him off. He wasn't going to let Ryan apologise for something that wasn't his fault.

'It was only going to be so long,' Geoff said hoarsely, which left the others looking incredibly confused. He gave Ryan a slight nod, encouraging him to tell the others what he'd just told Geoff. It was only so long before they were going to find out, anyway.

Ryan took a moment to prepare himself for it. It was one thing telling Geoff, but making a public announcement of it was something else. Especially as he knew that the others would make a big deal about the fact that Ryan had been through all this already. He didn't want their sympathy, because Geoff was more important. It was _his_ well-being on the line, now.

'Ray, you already know, like, most of this,' he started. Ray gave him an encouraging nod, and he continued. He told Gavin, Michael and Lindsay about what had happened to him – or, at least, what he could remember having happen to him. He told them about the state he woke up in, and the conversation he'd heard outside. He wanted to spare the gruesome details, but they brought the story to the realism that it needed for the seriousness to come through. He told them about how he escaped, and how he found Ray in Georgia. Everything that led right up to this moment.

When everyone had gotten here, the general vibe was one of happiness and unity; a group of friends separated for too long reunited. But now it was different. It was of fear, and tension, and realisation. They had America's Most Wanted right there with them, and the test subject that had proven to Whipley that his insane plans worked.

'Surely if he's in New York, we'd know about it by now?' Gavin said.

'Nah, pretty sure he's on some kind of 'hiatus' right now. Supposedly to prepare for the northern part of the tour,' Ray said.

'That northern part of the tour is legit?' Lindsay cut in. 'Smelled like bullshit to me.'

'I don't know,' Ryan said. 'It was probably just some kind of justification for him to  _ only  _ go around the south. I mean, think about it: he started out in Austin. Chances are he thought that was where Geoff would be. He obviously knew stuff, I mean, he knew who I was when he got to mine. He literally followed my wife back to find me. I wouldn't put it past him that he knew exactly what he was doing.'

While Ryan was talking, Geoff managed to pull himself up to standing again. He felt slightly light-headed, but after a few seconds, he was okay again. 'Well,' he said calmly. 'I'm just fucking shitting myself right now.'

'Naw, it'll be fine!' Michael said defiantly. 'I mean, how the hell is he going to find you, huh? You're in, like, Shitty McShithole in the back alley of some street in Shitsville, Manhattan. There's no way he's going to be able to find you here.'

Geoff shrugged. He wished he could think as optimistically as Michael.

'I don't know,' Ryan said, looking down at his own phone, knowing what Whipley was capable of. 'I just don't think we should underestimate this guy.'

He looked up, meeting Michael's pissed-off expression, like Ryan had just crushed his castle in the sky.

'At all.'

 


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year guys! I hope you all have a super awesome 2015.. starting with this chapter<3

What had seemed like a big, open house had its illusion brought back to reality pretty quickly after all the guys were living there: it really was just some falling-apart building. It could only just hold all six of them, and they all spent uncomfortable nights on the floor. Everyone had their own collection of stuff, but the cold, hard carpets that smelled of damp and weed made everyone slightly miss their old homes, or the once-unforgivably cheap beds of motels.

For Gavin, it was a little easier anyway: he could sleep sitting upright pretty easily, since that was normal for birds. All he required were his blankets which he carried everywhere, and he was good for the night. He'd wind himself up in them and perch. The person who took it the hardest was Ryan. Since the hybridisation, he'd always found it insanely difficult to sleep. He had no choice but to sleep directly on his back, and his movement was so restricted. The way that real longhorn bulls slept just didn't work for a human body. He also had to be the furthest away from everyone else, so that he didn't end up goring one of them with his horns by accident. 

But despite the place's setbacks, they were all glad to be together again. Bad things were definitely happening, and every silent moment of Seph Whipley's was another increase in anxiety for them all. But they were together, and they were all going to help each other out as much as they possibly could. No one was going to let Geoff go down without a fight.

Each day that passed, Michael or Lindsay would go out to find some source of news: the screens landscaping Times Square, or maybe televisions in nearby electrical stores. Kiosks in the street selling newspapers, even. Everyone wanted to make sure they were keeping up as much as they could with any update on Whipley. Unfortunately, all they could find was news about how the protests were still continuing across the country, even when he'd disappeared into the shadows.

'You know what, though,' Michael said to the others, as they all sat around one of the rooms in his and Lindsay's place. It had been a few days after they'd all reunited, and he and Lindsay found they were spending more time indoors than they used to. If anyone needed to go out, it would always be one of them. They knew the area, and they knew what level of subtly they could get away with around here. The others were just fresh meat.

'What,' Geoff grunted.

'It still feels weird without Jack here, y'know? Like, we've all magically been able to run into each other. He's still out there somewhere.'

Geoff pulled himself up. He'd been lying on his side, head propped up as he leant on his elbow, reading a copy of the New York Times. He missed Jack too, and was sure everyone else did. And he knew that if anyone here had any information on where he was, it would be him. 'Yeah, I get that.'

'I mean,' Michael continued. 'I guess it's okay to ask now: where did you even send him?'

'Uhh,' Geoff thought, the strain in his voice coming from pushing himself up to a more attentive position. His parental feelings started to flow: it wasn't that he'd forgotten where Jack was, it was just that he had so much on his mind constantly that he had to work to bring it to the forefront. 'Jack was... Jack was Washington.' His voice perked up at the end as the answer came to him.

'Woah? Like, Washington state? 'Cus dude, that's far. Or was it DC?'

'Nope, state,' Geoff said. 'He was definitely one of the corners. I also had to take into account the whole lion thing. Like, where was he most likely to live with that, y'know?'

'Yeah. God, I wish we could just see him,' Michael said, brushing his tail with the back of his hand, ridding it of any fluff or dirt. Geoff looked up at him kind of awkwardly, slowly reaching for his phone behind him. Michael didn't notice since his attention was focused on his tail, but it was brought back up to Geoff when he heard him said, 'I mean, we  _ could _ ?'

'Huh?' Michael said. He'd heard what Geoff had said, but since his attention had been torn, he didn't trust his hearing. He must have heard wrong.

'Yeah, I could call him right now?'

Michael's expression turned from interest to irritation as he glared across at Geoff. The others in the room turned to see what was going on, the sudden silence in Geoff and Michael's conversation piquing their interests.

'Woah, what's going on?' Ryan said, noticing first the way Michael was staring at Geoff.

'Michael? What?' Gavin chimed in. It wasn't that often he saw Michael genuinely mad at someone, yet he made it look pretty convincing right now.

'What did you say, Geoff?' Michael's attention didn't leave the ram.

'I – I said I could call him right now, if you wanted? I thought you might... Want... To...' he trailed off as he noticed everyone else's expressions turn sour with shock.

'You mean to say you have Jack's number right there?' Ryan said, pointing at Geoff's phone. Geoff looked at it, suddenly realising that he came out with it a little too happy-go-lucky, completely forgetting that everyone else had been brutally isolated from the others.

'I, uh...'

'Geoff, you made us all cut contact and then you still had Jack's number?' Gavin said, his voice going high in a disapproving tone. 'That's well out! Who else have you got on there?'

Geoff pulled his hand back instinctively, expecting Gavin to reach forward and grab it. He didn't, though, and Geoff was just left looking stuck and defensive. 'Well,' he mumbled, embarrassed. 'Everybody.'

'So, when you wouldn't even tell me where Gavin was going, because we all had to be 'isolated' you just sat there with everyone's contacts still there, while cutting us all off from each other?' Michael blasted. 'Are you fucking kidding me?'

'Michael, to be honest, I thought you knew!' Geoff said. 'How do you think I called you when I did?'

Michael's voice raised a pitch or two as he tried to spit out a poorly-constructed answer. 'I – I – I don't – how the fuck am I supposed to know, Geoff? Like, you randomly fucking call me, my first thought isn't  _ oh, how did he get my number?  _ It's more like, holy fucking shit, Geoff is calling me right now, I haven't heard from him in, like,  _ FIVE FUCKING YEARS BECAUSE HE FUCKING SENT ME AWAY WITHOUT ANY CONTACT TO ANY OF MY FUCKING FRIENDS _ .' He could feel his fur stand on end on his tail and ears, and he knew that his sharp canines were making themselves obvious to Geoff right now. He clenched his fingers into the carpet, trying to conceal his claws that had extended out.

Geoff went quiet. 'I'm sorry, Michael.' Upon looking up, he could see the faces of his other friends looking ashamedly at him. He didn't realise that his selfish decisions were going to cause such an effect on them. He only meant to let them know that they could reach Jack if they wanted to. 'I'm sorry to all of you.'

Like most mammals, Geoff's instincts forced him to bow his head down in shame and guilt. The same way a dog would tuck its tail between its legs and hang its head low, it was the same for rams, apparently. He let his shoulders sink with a low, sad exhale, and felt his tiny little tail droop. His ears pushed back into his horns. The others knew the signs – they knew that a display like this was almost completely instinctual, and it reminded them what this was all about, and that Geoff really had tried his best. Someone who'd put so much responsibility on themselves probably needed that comfort of control to get themselves out of bed every morning. Really, what they were all furious about right now, might have just been Geoff's saving grace.

Ryan leant over and tried to gently take the phone out of Geoff's hand. He didn't want to make any sudden movements that might either spook him or lead him to believe that they were still angry. Michael clearly needed to cool off, and Gavin was feeling conflicted. Rather than taking the phone away from Geoff, Ryan held it in front of him. 'So, you gonna call him, or what?'

Geoff turned his head to the side and looked at Ryan, trying to judge if he was just going to be ambushed with insults and accusations again. He was ready to accept them, he just wanted to prepare himself for the shame. It surprised him to see Ryan give some kind of smile, although the cuts and bruises on his face made it seem way less friendly than it was probably intended to be.

'You sure?' Geoff said. Ryan nodded, and Gavin agreed behind him. Geoff quickly looked over at Michael, who didn't say anything, but that was a good sign: if Michael had been against the idea, he'd have been vocal about it. 'Alright.'

Geoff took the phone back off of Ryan and unlocked it, searching for Jack's number. Once he found it, he said, 'You guys ready?' before pressing the call button. It rang for a few tones, the sound deafening as it cut through the thick silence hanging in the dense air. After a few moments of waiting, the line clicked through, and amongst the rough sound of wind blowing past the speaker, they could hear Jack's voice. 'Hello?'

Everyone looked at each other. No one spoke. 'Uh, hello?' came his voice again, a pang of irritation and confusion running through it. Ryan stared at Geoff in disbelief, ready to snatch the phone from him if Geoff didn't say something in the next half a second. He could feel his temper rising inside him like boiling water. He resented it, the way his anger could switch from 'off' to 'raging' in such a short space of time. Luckily, it began to ease back down after Geoff finally spoke.

'Jack?'

Pause.

'Jack, it's – it's me!'

'Geoff... Is – is this Geoff?' Jack's voice had that familiar tone of surprise that they all knew very well. Gavin's shoulders and wings lifted, and he gave Ryan a massive grin, so happy to hear his friend's voice on the end of the phone. Michael was visibly calming too, his fur back down as normal and his shoulders relaxed. He was even leaning in a little bit to hear the conversation better.

'Yeah, buddy! It's me!' Geoff's mind suddenly raced as he realised he was going to have to explain to Jack that all the Achievement Hunters were together except him. He built it up in his mind, ready to blurt it out, but suddenly the crackle of wind past the speaker got a little heavy, and Geoff had to turn away and press the phone as hard against his horn as he good to get it near his ear. No one else could hear the speaker except from Geoff now.

When Jack's voice was more audible, Geoff cut off what he was about to say as he listened hard to what Jack was saying down the phone.

'Wait, wait, wait,' Geoff said, pausing his entire thought process. He looked back around at the others, who were in the unknown. His expression said it all, though, as Geoff continued what he was saying, his voice heavy down the phone. 'You're  _ where _ ?'

 


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, I'm afraid! However this is where things start to get really interesting.

'I don't know, apparently Michael knows where we are, so he shouldn't be long.'

Jack stood next to his car, shivering from the cold. He'd been driving for so long now, and he was so used to the perfect heat settings in his car. Granted, Caiti hadn't necessarily been the biggest fan of how high he had to have the heated seats, but he just couldn't help it. The warmth somehow tamed the lion in him. It was the afternoon, and not a particularly bad day for New York, but he just couldn't acclimatise back to the wind and the drizzle.

Caiti sighed, wondering how long it was going to be before Michael actually came and got them. They'd been parked on the curb of some random road in the middle of Manhattan for fifteen minutes now, since Jack had received that call from Geoff and pulled over to take it. Once Michael had been put on the phone and it had turned out that they weren't that far from everyone else, it was only a matter of waiting.

'Don't worry about it, sweetie,' Jack said, holding his arms out across the top of the car, prompting Caiti to come and join him on his side of the car. She huddled in to his chest as he enveloped her in his arms. 'We're going to get to see our friends and I'm honestly so happy about that. Shouldn't be long now.'

Caiti took comfort in Jack's scent, and cuddled in closer. She wanted to be inside and warm and out of the disgusting weather, but for now, Jack's arms made the perfect palace for her.

It was only interrupted when Jack pulled away, speaking excitedly. Before she'd even had time to turn around, Caiti knew that Michael had come round the corner and found them. She had to stop herself from laughing when she saw him, as his hair was covered in beads of misty rain, and he looked so uncomfortable in his wet beanie. She was surprised to see Michael's tail out in the open, soaked through, of course. Once Jack and Michael were done embracing, Caiti took her turn to hug him. It was like greeting family after a long time of not seeing them, except it felt somewhat more important.

'Alright,' Michael said, reluctantly taking one of his hands out of his pocket to point behind him. 'We're just a few blocks that way, so you can either walk with me and leave the car here, or there's an alley near us, and you can just park down by Ryan.'

Jack and Caiti looked at each other, before deciding that it was really best to park as close to Michael's as possible, and not necessarily just because neither of them wanted to walk through the rain. Once they made their decision, Michael shrugged. 'Alright, whatever,' he said. 'You guys just follow me, okay?'

'Sure,' Jack said, climbing back into the car and waiting for Caiti to join him. While they got in, Michael squinted into the distance where there was another car parked just a few tens of feet behind Jack, its headlights blaring straight at him. They were so bright, and illuminated so much in the mist of the rain, that Michael couldn't even see the driver. Even after staring at it for so long, his tail swishing with keen interest, the car didn't budge. He didn't have a death wish with some random New Yorker, so rather than pursuing his instincts and persisting with the car, he just tapped the side of Jack's to let him know they were leaving, and headed down the road.

The driver of the car watched as Jack and Caiti pulled away, and their back lights sunk away into the depths of the rain. They waited. The monotonous beat of the windscreen wipers and the gentle white noise of the rain was relaxing, and they almost forgot what they were there for, until they heard a heavy tap at the window.

Rolling it down, the rain made its way onto the leather passenger seat, but it didn't really matter, because the person at the window was of far greater interest.

'Seph,' the driver said, a smirk spreading across their face as the familiar image of Seph Whipley materialised in front of them.

'It's so good to see you,' came the reply, before Seph opened the door and climbed in. He ignored the wetness of the seat, and told the driver to leave as he pulled on his seat belt. 'Go,' he said, and the driver pulled away. It was a simple exchange of words, and yet everything behind them was so much bigger than they could even imagine.

 


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yes.

Peaceful days passed. The group felt so complete now that Jack, along with Caiti, had showed up, even though initially everyone had been confused as to why Jack was even in New York. When they'd originally asked, Jack had been very shady about what he knew. No one understood why he was being like he was – what did he have to hide? All he'd tell them was that he'd caught wind that Seph Whipley was going to be in New York, and he wanted to do something to help. He admitted that he didn't know what that would be, but sitting back in Seattle doing nothing wasn't going to clean up his conscience. So he came.

'You had no idea Michael was already here?' Geoff said, disbelieving at the serendipity, and completely overlooking the fact that Jack had come here to do something potentially very dangerous. Geoff just wanted to forget about that for a minute.

'No! I mean, how would I?' Jack laughed. Geoff appreciated how chill Jack was being about the situation. It really put confidence back in Geoff's decision to trust Jack again: he just knew that Geoff had made his decisions for a reason. Jack had always been a good friend, and he'd always known that if Geoff had made a decision, there was probably a good reason for it. Jack had always trusted Geoff, and it made Geoff feel bad for doubting him when he'd appeared all shady. Sometimes Geoff's decisions seemed shitty, but they were justified. So maybe Jack's reasons for staying secretive were justified, too.

Michael and Lindsay gradually weaned off the friends they'd made in New York over the past months. They had, of course, appreciated the friendships that they had made, and it wasn't a case of dislike. But people around here knew that, as a hybrid, you sometimes had bigger fish to fry, and that often meant moving on from the group. Now Michael and Lindsay had all their friends back, it was time for them to move on from their groups and gangs in New York.

It meant they spent more time with the people they'd dreamt of seeing for so long. Everyone would sit inside, but it would never be boring, there would never be any complaining, because everyone truly understood the gratitude that floated between them that they could actually be together again. They all had fewer material possessions than they had ever had, but somehow, just by being together, they all felt more fulfilled than they could ever remember feeling.

They weren't really bothered with much, and every day that went by that ended with a safe and sound Geoff was a day well done. It sent a shock wave stirring through the group when, a few days after Jack had arrived, they heard a noise from downstairs.

'Did you hear that?' Lindsay said, her ears perking up at the unidentified sound.

'Yeah,' said Michael. Jack and Ray nodded in agreement, but Geoff and Ryan just looked at each other. Apparently their hearing wasn't as evolved as the other hybrids'. Well.

It happened again, but louder this time, so Geoff, Ryan, and Caiti could all hear as well.

'Is someone knocking on the fucking door?' Michael said, a contorted smile on his face. He was so amused because he was so confused. Why the hell would anybody be at their door?

He pulled his hand away from Lindsay's, his wife laughing at how inconvenient un-interlocking fingers was. She watched Michael walk out the room, and turned to the others. 'I wonder what that's gonna be then.'

Michael got to the front door pretty quickly. There was no peephole or anything. The door was pretty much just there to stop people from getting in. It was just an ugly lump of wood, otherwise. Yanking his beanie over his ears and angling his tail away from the gap in the door, he opened it up. The first thing he noticed was how dark it was outside. It wasn't until he lazily said, 'Yeah? What?' that he realised who one of the people standing in front of him was. Panic mode set in, and as he felt his claws extend from under his nails, he began to yell, 'NO –' but a fist met his face faster than the sound could travel up to warn the others.

Seph Whipley stood in the doorway, looking down at Michael's unconscious body. The way his beanie had fallen off, revealing his ears. The way his tail twisted under his abdomen. The way his claws hadn't even had time to retract before the last light had left his eyes. 'Holy fuck,' he whispered, trying to contain his excitement. He turned to the guy behind him, the one who he'd met just days before in the car. 'I had no idea we'd hit the fucking jack pot!'

The man shook his head, dumbfounded and elated. He hadn't either. To their knowledge, the only one two here were Geoff and Jack. That was it. They had no idea that the cat had been here too, and now they'd found out, they both wondered how many others were here.

'You gonna be alright with that?' Seph said as the other man bent down and picked up Michael's legs, ready to drag his body outside. He nodded, giving Seph a thumbs-up. 'Alright, cool. I'm gonna go sort this shit out, just make sure you get that done as quick as possible, yeah?'

'Yeah. We got everything, right? We all good to go?'

Seph touched his middle finger and his thumb together, indicating that they were all set. The man dragging Michael's body grinned, and continued on with his assigned job.

 

'Jesus,' Lindsay said, clutching at her arm. 'When's he gonna shut that door? It's getting drafty, man.'

Ryan gave her a small smile, but he was really too sleepy to engage fully. He rolled his head back on the wall, wishing more than anything he could remove his horns before he finally fell asleep.

Lindsay understood, and didn't both trying to continue a conversation with him. 'I'm gonna go see who it is, I think,' she said, getting up. 'I'll let you drift off.'

She turned to leave through the door, but didn't make it two steps out before she was met with the grappling hands of Seph reaching for her shoulders and aiming her body into the wall behind them. She didn't even have time to react before she was knocked out, but Ryan did, as he could see straight out of the door.

Fear stabbed through him, flashbacks of what he could remember from his torture shooting through his mind. For a second, it was hard for him to distinguish reality from traumatic memories, but he forced himself forward anyway. He had to forget what had happened to him, and throw aside his fear, because if he didn't then everyone else was going to get what he'd already had.

Seph turned as Ryan charged at him, and held his arms out, grabbing onto Ryan's horns to stop him from coming any closer. At this point, everyone else in the room was up, running forward to try and save Ryan from this psychopath's hold. Their line of vision didn't break, and Seph didn't even falter at the knowledge of everyone coming at him. He gave Ryan a smile. He knew what it meant. It said  _ You know exactly what I'm going to do right now. And you know it's going to fucking hurt.  _ As soon as he saw Ryan clock on, he went forward with it – wrenching one horn down and the other across, sending agony rocketing through Ryan's skull as the healing cracks were forced open. He screamed out, and Seph used all his strength he had to smash Ryan into the wall next to him, horn-first. The crunch of shattering bone sent excitement through his veins, and the image of the helpless bull on the floor made him proud.

'Fooled you twice, shame on you,' he laughed, but prepared himself quickly to take on the next one. Jack had come forward, but Seph pushed him back into Geoff. He wanted to deal with the bottom of the food chain first.

Jack and Geoff were so disorientated, and could hardly comprehend what was happening as Seph strode up to Ray, who was cowering in the far corner, shaking. It was rabbit instinct, and frankly, it was  _ cute.  _ Like, seriously. This one wasn't even going to  _ try  _ and defend himself.

Seph wrenched Ray up by the ears, holding him him so they could see eye to eye. He gave him a quick flash of a grin, a charming wink, and uppercutted him into the wall behind him. Ray wouldn't have even known what happened when he finally woke up.

Gavin came running over, finally forcing himself through his fear to try and do something about what was happening.

'OI, YOU  _ CUNT _ !' he screamed, arching up his wings to make himself look big and intimidating. It didn't really work as intended, though, as Seph just laughed dismissively at him, and reached forwards to grab a handful of Gavin's feathers. The pain surged through Gavin's wings, and he felt his knees buckle beneath him as he was pulled forward. All he'd wanted to do was help, but he immediately regretted his decision, knowing that he couldn't even do anything to help himself right now.

'Maybe y'all should stop whimpering, hm?' Seph said, pulling on Gavin's wings again. Gavin fell to the floor at Seph's feet, and Seph took the opportunity to hold  one of his heavy, black boots against Gavin's collarbone. 'I could snap you and your hollow bird bones with a twitch of my leg,' he hissed. Gavin didn't even dare himself to say anything, for fear of his life. Seph shrugged. 'I'm not gonna do that, but, just to be sure that you, y'know, behave...' He smiled again, brining his foot back, and his knee up under Gavin's chin, knocking him out with one full force.

All Seph had to do now before he could get his hands on Jack and Geoff was deal with Caiti, but just as he reached out for her, his backup came in the room. It was poor timing, and Seph was mildly irritated that his flow had been ruined. But actually, it turned out to be beneficial, since Caiti was pepper-sprayed and lights out before Seph had time to come near her.

'Alright, don't show off,' he said jokingly to the other man, who shrugged in an amused way. He leant down to heave Ryan's body out of the room, and Seph was once again left alone, with just Jack and Geoff left.

He walked over to them slowly, not wanting to be as brutal. He knelt down to meet Jack's eye level, since he hadn't yet gotten off the floor after being pushed. Jack bared his fangs, easily the most lethal of the group. A deep rumble emanated from his chest, the lion he spent every day trying so desperately to hold back escaping from him.

'Oooh,' Seph said. 'Pretty fangs. They'll be good when, um, when...' He looked behind him to the door, and turned back, opting to not finish that sentence. 'I gotta say, Jack. You really led yourself into this trap. Hey, you wanna know a fun fact? That anonymous guy you came all the way to New York to protect by maybe, perhaps, _possibly_ finding me? Look behind you, bro. Say hey to Geoff Ramsey, the first hybrid.' Seph looked immensely proud of himself, and couldn't reduce the grin on his face as Jack looked behind him in horror. Before he had time to process what he'd just been told, Seph took the opportunity to get Jack unconscious while he wasn't looking. An incredulous blow to the head was good enough to get the job done. There was a thud as his lifeless body fell to the floor, and Seph shuffled forward towards Geoff, who was now defenceless as ever.

At first, all Seph gave Geoff was a contemplative smile, as he left Geoff to try and figure out what he was about to do to him. He flinched forward, causing Geoff to recoil in fear, his uncontrollable shaking giving away his terror. Seph chuckled.

'It's been a freaking long time, huh, Geoff?' he said. 'Remember back when I made an enemy of you because I needed someone to infect? Good times. Goddamn, dude, you know my parents spent so fucking long making that disease. And you and I have waited nearly twenty-seven years to see the final product, and, shit, man. I am so freaking happy. But, guess what? That disease – hah! - that was only the first hurdle. It was never about widespreading some disease, like you get in all that sci-fi shit. It was all about seeing if the  _ cure  _ would work. _That_ was the experiment. Although, I don't exactly have to lie to you any more, Geoff. You talk to Ryan about what happened to him?' He waited a second, although he wasn't expecting Geoff to answer. 'Pretty gruesome, huh? Well, I mean, that was meant to be you. It was just lucky that we ran into Ryan in Florida. I did my research, man. I knew who you were working with, for, whatever. I knew who Ryan and Jack and Gavin and all the others were. Really helped me and my boy out.' He pointed to the man who came in to collect Ray's body as he said the word 'boy'. 'I figured, hey, since Ryan's already here, let's just test it out, get it all warmed up for you. Imagine my fucking happiness when it worked. Geoff, it worked so well! And you were the first step to freaking testing that! But, it's not over. I still wanna try it out on you, and the others. Which, by the way, thank you so fucking much whoever got you all congregated here. I mean, I tracked you from Ryan, and knew you were here, as in, this shit hole –' He looked around at the walls. '– because, well, I don't know if you remember that call you got here, do you? Where I didn't talk? I just had to check your location. But, my fucking lord, I did not know the whole crew would be here. This is like... This is just the best. So, we're gonna take you, and your little animal friends, to a little place just out of Manhattan, and we're gonna do some more of this experiment stuff, alright? It's important with all scientific investigations that you do thorough testing, okay? After that, you're free to go. I'm done then. I'll have what I need.'

Geoff looked up at Seph. He was still shaking violently, and his breathing was blunt and jarring. The anger, and fear, and desperation was so clear, and he couldn't even wake his brain up to move. He couldn't react or do anything. He was still repeating Seph's words over, and over, in his head, when he felt his hands clamp around his jaw like and eagle's talons, pulling his head upwards.

'You know,' Seph hissed dangerously close to Geoff's face, his free hand playing with the point at the end of one of Geoff's horns. 'One day you're going to look back, and you're going to think 'My god, that Joe Whipley. He really fucked up my life.'' And with one slicing grin, and one swift movement, Geoff's skull was smashed into the wall behind him, darkness consuming him, with the first blood Whipley had shed of his in twenty-seven years dripping down the back of his weak, human neck.

 


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Geoff's a wanted man, Michael's angry as fuck, Ryan's just completely broken emotionally and physically, and Jack.. is..
> 
> Well. I'm not even sorry.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Each man was roused awake at the sudden brightness that had entered the room. Seph took his hands away from the light switch once every massive industrial strip light was on. Where they were was not anywhere that any of them had been. It was a massive hall, like some kind of abandoned sports hall, or some old industrial unit. Each person was handcuffed and clamped either to a chair, or the wall, far out of reach from the others. The only two who weren't there were Caiti and Lindsay, who'd been injected with a sedative so they didn't try to revolt while Seph was busy with his game.

The first reaction was from Michael, who exactly faced Seph. He started kicking the metal stand behind him, claws scratching at his wrists and handcuffs. 'WHERE'S LINDSAY? WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE? WHERE ARE WE? FUCK YOU!' he screamed, his voice resonating in the echoing room. Gavin flinched at the sound, but was pretty preoccupied with the insane discomfort he was in. As well as his arms being restrained, his wings had been too. The restriction squeezed his flesh and trapped his feathers, and he felt that if he thought too hard about it he'd burst from frustration.

Ryan woke up with his head hanging forwards, the only thing holding him upright the chains from his wrists to the wall. He struggled to lift his head up, since his horns were so heavy and he felt so weak. This was the second time he'd been a victim of Seph's, and he didn't know if he had the energy to haul himself out of it again. His balance was so off now, that his vision was tainted with swirls and shakes and shapes that most likely weren't there. As he tried to reel himself back, he realised something else he hadn't noticed before: not only were his hands cuffed to the wall, but his horns were chained back too. The clattering of the chains as he lifted his head terrified him, but he couldn't pull away or panic, because the pain through his head was just too much. He vaguely noticed Seph smile over at him as he saw Ryan realise what he'd done.

The only thing holding Ray to the wall behind him were cuffs. He was so tiny anyway, that Seph didn't see the point in holding him back any more. Ray's ears were bolt upright, a natural reaction for him in a situation of panic or fear. His foot started to thumb on the floor as he came to his senses, and his breathing was inconsistent and jaggedy. He stared straight in front of him, his field of view so focused that the others might as well not be there.

Jack was the next one along. He'd had to be chained back more than the others, since he was so big that any force he could muster could potentially break him out. That wasn't something Seph wanted. It would just ruin all the effort he'd put in here. Not only had Jack's wrists been chained behind his back and then to the wall, but his upper arms and his shins, too. He tried to pull against them, but his balance was very limited, and too much pulling would have caused him to fall forward, unable to get up again.

Geoff had the spot directly opposite the door that Seph had just walked through. He was the golden trophy on a shelf of silver shields. His setup was similar to Ryan's: Chains around his wrists and his horns chained back. Of course, Geoff's horns couldn't be held back the same way Ryan's could, but the feeling of restraining Geoff made Seph's superiority complex skyrocket, so he'd opted for the horn chains anyway.

'Michael,' he said calmly, once he was convinced everyone had awoken properly. 'Calm down. Your bitch is fine. So's his.' He nodded towards Jack. 'So before we move on, I'm gonna talk to you about a few things. First, is what exactly is going to happen.'

A masked man, presumably the one who'd helped Seph move the bodies out of Michael and Lindsay's place, stepped forward into the room, his shadow blocking out Geoff's view of the light. He handed Seph something.

'This is what y'all are gonna have. I mean,' he sidled over to Ryan, whose head was still hanging as he succumbed to the pain rushing through it. Seph pushed his chest back into the wall, causing Ryan's head to go back with it and smash into the shackles behind him that connected his chains to the wall. Ryan hardly reacted. 'This one's already had a good taste of this. But I doubt he's given away  _ too  _ many spoilers.' He laughed and pulled away, letting Ryan fall forward again, the weakness he felt causing his knees to buckle under him.

'So I think it's time for a quick biology lesson.' Seph wandered around the room, giving each man a good look up and down, but not touching any of them. 'In your brain, you got these things called neuroreceptors. They let you think, let you react and make decisions in a way that governs your every day life. They're what make you human. So... What if it was possible to block them off to all human brain signals? All that would be left is animal hormones and animal transmitters and everything that makes you animal?' He laughed. 'Now, do you see why we needed hybrids? Geoff? You see why I needed you?'

The other man came and stood beside Seph, holding more syringes full of the transparent liquid. 'Now,' Seph continued. 'We're not gonna do it in here. This is where  _ my  _ part of the experiment begins. Y'all are gonna get split into pairs. Kitty cat and birdy, you're going together. Jack, the lion, king of the animals, you're gonna go with the bovine. And Geoff, you're going with Ray. And maybe, before we take you off, have a little think about what could happen, hm?' He gave Geoff a sympathetic smile. 'I'm sorry, dude. You're not gonna get the same kind of experience – rams don't tend to eat rabbits, I know, I know. But it'll be interesting. And I'll try make it up to you some time. Old friends, yeah?'

Seph got close to Geoff, enough so that Geoff could feel the warm breath dissipate over his face. He could feel his anger rising in his chest, his inner need to ram his horns forward tempting him, but it was suddenly silenced by Seph grabbing hold of his horns and forcing them backwards. 'Save it,' he snarled.

The moment was interrupted by Jack. 'You're a fucking sick psychopath! You're disgusting! YOU'RE PUTTING ME IN A ROOM WITH RYAN IN THE HOPE THAT I FUCKING KILL HIM? AND THE SAME WITH MICHAEL AND GAVIN. WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?'

Seph moved away from Geoff, and came over so he was face-to-face with Jack. Seph was a tall guy, and he could match Jack's glare. Jack's breath was heavy and angry, forcing itself from his nostrils, his lips curling slightly upward, threatening to unleash his fangs. Seph smiled and raised his eyebrows, wanting to hear if Jack had any more to say.

'Everything your brother said about you was right,' Jack hissed. Seph didn't know what Jack knew. Well now it was Jack's chance to hit home for Seph. He wanted him to feel fucking guilty for what he was doing. Jack knew that Jordan would never even want to utter the name 'Seph' again, knowing what he was doing right now.

Seph looked amused, and turned around to the other man in the room, as if getting him to laugh along too. The man walked forward towards them, and Jack noticed him pull something out from his side. Before he had time to consider it, Jack had the butt of a pistol in his face. Terror didn't cover it.

'It's okay,' Seph said, laughing and patting the man's shoulder as he walked back toward the middle of the room. The man lowered his pistol and pulled off the balaclava from his face. The hair that fell down and the face that emerged sent stabs through Jack more than the knowledge that a gun was in is face ever could.

'...Jordan?' His voice wavered, hardly hanging on.

The man grinned up into a sly smile. 'Hey, Jack.'

Seph started laughing in the middle of the room, so happy that his plan had worked out. 'Oh man,' he whined, wiping a tear from his eye. 'If you could see your reaction!'

'Wha... What the fuck is this?' Jack's voice went high with betrayal and anger. Jordan hated Seph! Jordan  _ helped  _ him! 'Oh my God,' Jack whispered. 'You  _ led  _ me to New York! You're the reason I'm here! You let me  _ trust  _ you so you could lead me here to my fucking death! YOU WERE WORKING TOGETHER THIS WHOLE TIME!'

Jordan laughed, quite proud of himself. 'I mean, yeah. I only lied about a couple of things. As a kid, man, I hated my parents, dude. But Joe's my brother, y'know. When he first looked into Geoff's colleagues and tracked you, found out you were coming to Washington, he contacted me and, hey, I had nothing better to do. And, God –' He paused a second to laugh. '– My God, you are easy to gain the trust of. Once Joe told me he was coming to New York, all I had to do was convince you to come here.'

He turned, addressing Seph more than Jack this time. 'You wanna know what the best part is?' he said. Seph gave him an acknowledging chuckle. 'He didn't even know the dude was Geoff. He just felt so bad for some random guy that he was willing to drive all the way over here to stop you.'

Seph burst out laughing, coming closer. 'Oh, Jack. Jack, that is just... That is just precious. Oh, I almost feel bad for what you're about to do to Ryan,' he said.

Jack couldn't believe what was being said to him. He'd trusted Jordan. All that time. He'd trusted him. He'd let him in his house, let him feed him lies just so that one day Jordan could lead Jack into the trap that could end in his demise. At least, it would end in Ryan's. He'd uprooted what he had, his entire happiness, everything, to try and protect someone whose identity he didn't know. Since being here, it had become all-too-obvious that Geoff couldn't be protected. And if Jack was going to get out of here, the chances of Ryan coming with him were minuscule. He'd let everything get fucked up. Just because he'd believed the  _ stupid, fucking sob story _ .

Jordan, sufficiently pleased with the reaction he'd elicited from Jack, stepped back a few paces until he was side-by-side with his big brother again. 'Which ones are we taking first?' he whispered, so the hybrids couldn't hear.

'We'll take Michael and Gavin first, because I'm pretty sure Ryan and Jack are gonna require a bit more heavy lifting,' Seph whispered back. Jordan nodded in agreement, and ran out of the room to quickly retrieve something. When he came back, he pressed something into Seph's hand, like a drug passover. He confidently continued on towards Gavin, while Seph made his way over to Michael.

'See you soon,' Seph smirked, as he held what Jordan had given him over Michael's face. It was a cloth, dipped in just a hint of chloroform. It wasn't intended to knock them out for ages, but just long enough so they could move the men to the next room, which was just like a smaller version of the one they were in.

Geoff started kicking up a fuss, but Seph and Jordan just ignored him. Jack couldn't bring himself to say anything, and Ryan was just a broken mess hanging above the floor – he wouldn't be able to make a fuss even if he tried. Ray was too wrapped up in his continued panic, although he wished more than anything that he could burst from his restraints and actually do something.

When the Whipleys came back, they both went over to Ryan together. The main reason for his weight was his horns, even though he was taller and built bigger than Michael and Gavin. He also needed the extra support being carried, since he could hardly keep himself upright, and they didn't want him to break himself tripping on the floor before they'd even let Jack at him. Jack was harder to get near, but once Seph managed to hold the cloth over his face, it was only a matter of unchaining and carrying Jack through to the other room before his immune system forced the chemicals out of his body.

After they were done carrying through the bodies and chaining them up again, they were ready to begin. This was the moment that Seph had waited twenty-seven years for, and it was a consistent effort from him to keep his excitement at bay.

'This is for mom and dad,' he said, like a happy child, to Jordan, as they prepared two syringes of the medicine. 'Now. Let's go and have some fun.'

 


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehehehehe.
> 
> Btw, shoutout to Aib! I noticed she'd read this entire thing so far. I hope you're enjoying it, and don't think I've ruined your AU!
> 
> Enjoy, guys.

When Geoff had company in the first room once more, it was only Seph. This time, he wasn't joined by his accomplice. Geoff looked up at him from under his brow, but didn't deem him worth the words from his mouth, so he kept his teeth gritted tight.

'Okay, here's the thing,' Seph said, lazily walking closer and closer to Geoff, swinging his arms, the little light that entered the room glinting off the syringe in his hand. 'I don't think there's gonna be much fighting in here, but I made you a promise. You were meant to be the first, so I'm going to give you the shot first. You two will probably be absolutely fine.' He reached forward and snatched Geoff's wrist, pulling it towards him as far as the chains would let him. 'Too bad I can't say the same for your friends.'

Before Geoff had a chance to pull his arm away, he felt the long needle of the syringe sink deep into his flesh. The pumping ache of the liquid easing in flowed through his veins, and he tried to clutch his arm for comfort, only to be able to feel his control slip away. 'N – you... Motherfuuuu...' His speech slurred and his body went somewhat limp, although tense enough to keep him upright. Seph eased the needle out of Geoff's arm, and threw the empty syringe across the room to the door, having no use for it any more.

While Geoff stirred in his restraints, Seph moved over to Ray, pulling out his second injection. Ray's eyes were wide, his ears up and leg thumping more than it ever had before. 'Get the fuck away from me, get the fuck away from me, get the fuck away from me,' he chanted over and over to himself under his breath, pulling a small smile out of Seph as he came close enough to hear. Other than that, there was no acknowledgement of Ray's fear, and Seph just went forward with providing the injection.

Ray felt his control wash away from him just like Geoff's had, but it didn't take as long as Geoff did to have his body fully functional again. Except, although fully awake and in control, it wasn't Ray or Geoff behind the wheel.

Seph turned with glee at the sound of Geoff kicking against the wall behind him, trying desperately to free himself from the chains. His horns were angled down, and there were sounds emanating from his throat that resembled nothing human. Seph was over the moon, everything had fucking  _ worked _ . Here was the actual first sample of an animal hybrid doing everything his family had ever wanted to make happen: the human was forced out, leaving just the animal behind.

Seph bounded over, letting Geoff out of his chains. The angry ram did its best to take a swing or two at Seph with his horns, but stopped when Seph ran to the opposite side of the room to release Ray. Once he too was out, Geoff's attention was captured by the fleeting rabbit running wild across the room, trying, by any means possible, to get away from potential danger.

Everywhere Ray ran, Geoff wasn't too far behind. Seph didn't think he could be any more entertained, when Ray stopped shortly to check his surroundings, and Geoff ran straight into him, horns piercing his skin and dragging upwards. The room filled with the ear-burning scream of Ray, whose shirt was rapidly staining with blood. His ears pointed back, and he sank to the floor as Geoff wrenched his horn out of Ray's side. Ray fell into some kind of balled-up position, letting out a high whine that rabbits did when they were distressed. Geoff backed away, seemingly uninterested, but fate took a turn for the worst for Ray when he looped back around and came charging at the rabbit once again. Seph took a step back to get himself out of the crossfire.

The timing was perfect, as Ray tried to pull himself back up to a standing position, his mind only on running away again. But just as he got himself back up to his feet, the heavy horns of the ram came smashing into his side again, crushing his ribcage between them and the wall. He screamed out in pain again, and this time he wasn't going to be able to lift himself back up. He collapsed, his tail facing up and exposed to the world. Geoff brought his foot down hard on Ray's abdomen, forcing the air out of his lungs, and feeling the crunch of his ribs beneath what might as well have been his hoof.

Seph watched as the ram strutted off, now satisfied and disinterested, and sat himself down on the opposite corner of the room. He decided enough was enough: he'd promised Geoff that he'd repay him for this, and whereas he didn't care about the extent to which any of the others got harmed (this was for science, after all), he felt like he owed Geoff a clean conscience. He could still hear the squeaking and whining from Ray, his blood leaking out onto the cold floor beneath him. Okay, that was enough for these two.

Seph beckoned Jordan in, and got him to carefully manoeuvre Ray out of the room. Once he was out, Seph shut the heavy door in behind him, keeping Geoff isolated for now.

'That it?' Jordan asked when he'd put Ray in another room safely. He was going to have to keep going back and making sure he was okay so that he didn't bleed out. Seph nodded. 'It is for those two,' he said, eager to move on to the next pair, and honestly, even though he'd been excited to try it out of Geoff, it didn't make a scratch on the excitement he felt about watching Gavin and Michael tear each other apart.

 


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUND UN DUND UND UND UN DUN DUN DUN DUNNDNNDNDNSNSDDNDU

There was a silence in the room that held Michael and Gavin when Seph walked in, which he broke by saying, 'Light up, you two.' He flicked on the lights so he could see them both, Gavin looking like he was in a great deal of pain and fear, Michael looking angry, ignoring the discomfort he was in. Seph looked between them, expecting some sort of a reaction.

'Is that how we're gonna play it? Okay then,' he mumbled, opting to just get on with preparing the injection. He decided that he was going to do Gavin first. Michael's reaction as he knew what was going to happen would be a sight to see, and Seph didn't want to waste the opportunity of seeing what that was like.

Gavin writhed away when Seph got near him, letting out distressed squawks and swearing. He wanted to beat his wings hard enough that they broke his restraints. His avian heart wasn't strong enough to keep him up with this kind of fear. 'Michael!' he cried desperately. 'Michael! Help! Michael!'

'GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM,' came the scream from the other side of the room, ripping through the air. Seph turned, smirking, and holding his index finger up to his lips to get Michael to be quiet. It just agitated him further, and Michael started slamming against the shackles and cuffs in an attempt to get to Gavin. 'DON'T TOUCH HIM! DON'T TOU –'

'MICHAEL!' It was the last pleading scream that cut Michael off before the liquid was already halfway up Gavin's arm. He grabbed at Seph, but the rule Gavin had over his body started slipping away, and his claws and grabs at Seph were worthless. Pulling away, Seph slowly retracted the needle from Gavin's arm, and turned to face Michael.

'Alright, kitty cat,' he said snarkily, preparing Michael's injection as he came closer. Michael tried pulling away from his chains, but it was no use. The fury boiled in his throat with every step Seph took towards him. When they were face to face, Michael sucked in and spat as hard as he could.

'WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?' he screamed, his peripheral vision picking up a limp Gavin just stirring into consciousness on the other side of the room. 'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU – NO, GET AWAY FROM ME. GET THE _FUCK_ AWAY FROM ME.' Seph had taken Michael's wrist, and held it strong enough for Michael to not be able to wrench it free. Michael knew he was trapped.

'GAVIN!' he cried, seeing what he thought was his best friend waking up on the other side of the room. 'GAVIN!'

'Relax,' Seph said. He regained Michael's attention again as he pushed gently on the end of the syringe. 'We just wanna see how the cat and the bird play together? Okay? Oh but I'd try and calm down first if I were you. Riled up kitties don't tend to leave their prey in peace.'

Michael's eyes widened in horror as it dawned on him what was about to happen, but it was too late for him to do anything, and even though his extended claws aimed for Seph's neck, humanity had already been too lost from him to fight any further.

Once Seph was done, he removed the needle from Michael's arm, undid the restraints, and hurried himself out of the room. This time, the door was going to be shut, and he was going to be behind it, watching through a peephole. This was the first real predator animal he'd dealt with, and he didn't want to get himself injured as it was on the hunt. He prepared himself for an interesting show when Michael and Gavin finally started to wake up.

Even though Michael should have taken longer to recover from the jab, he was the first to snap into action, presumably because he'd seen Gavin on the opposite side of the room. As soon as a cat sees its prey, it doesn't break that contact. He dropped to his knees, holding his head low, ears back, and tail flicking gently in the air. Gavin hadn't yet noticed, and was just falling out of his cuffs when Michael let out a violent hiss and ran at him.

Gavin's head snapped towards Michael, suddenly aware of the predator coming full-force towards him. Coupled with birdlike cries of terror, Gavin's wings spread out as fast as they could, and began to beat against the air, trying to get him into the air and out of Michael's path.

But Gavin's wings weren't used to carrying his body, and even though the bird in him knew exactly what to do, he only made it a few feet off the ground before landing clumsily back down. In his attempt to get back up and try again, he was met by the sharp points of Michael's claws, extended out, ready to rip Gavin's weak flesh to shreds. The bird fell back down in a heap of feathers, chirruping and squawking, panicked and petrified. He tried to flap his wings to get the cat off of him, but with every beat of his wings, Michael would come down harder into his skin, sending Gavin's blood spurting upwards.

'Oh man,' Seph laughed to himself from behind the door. This was getting more entertaining than he'd anticipated. He was interrupted by a gentle tap on his shoulder, and turned to see his brother behind him. 'What is it?'

'Do you think maybe you should get started on Jack and Ryan?' Jordan suggested. 'The longer we're here...'

'Yeah, I get it,' Seph huffed. Jordan was right, if they stayed here any longer than they had to, then there was more of a chance of getting caught. Especially if this place wasn't particularly soundproof.

'I'll keep an eye on these two while you sort them out.' Jordan's voice was reassuring. It was hard for Seph to disagree with him. To be honest, he knew he was right, but he really just wanted to watch the bloodbath unfold.

Jordan put his eye to the peephole, noticing that Gavin had managed to struggle away, feathers everywhere, and the ones still on his wings more bloodstained as they got more towards his back. Michael was trying to get himself up, yelping like an injured kitten. Jordan resented the part inside him that enjoyed this. He knew it confirmed him as a Whipley, which was something he'd hated being for most of his life.

Meanwhile, Seph was already in Jack and Ryan's room, injections ready. Ryan had head head leant back on the wall, his eyes closed as if he was trying to recover from a migraine. He wasn't fighting the restraints, and the chains that held his horns fell around his shoulders. Jack looked more on edge, like he was ready to rip out Seph's throat as soon as he came near him.

'Might as well keep to the pattern,' Seph muttered, deciding to go to Ryan first. The bull didn't even fight him back. He didn't move. All he did was open his eyes and look down sadly at Seph as he held the needle against his skin. Ryan had been through this. He knew how much he'd suffered from just being at the hands of Seph. He'd already accepted that at the mercy of a lion, his life was already over.

When it came to injecting Jack, he was resistant, but knew that there was nothing he could  _ really  _ do to stop Seph. Had there been, none of them would be there right now. Seph had had long enough to plan this so that it went  _ his  _ way.

'I hope you and your piece-of-shit brother  _ rot _ ,' Jack hissed between gritted teeth as he felt that dull ache of liquid extend up his arm. Seph smiled, amused.

'I'm not the killer here, dude.'

Seph yanked the needle from Jack's arm, causing him to flinch, and walked away after giving him a sly smirk. Both of them took a little longer to release from their chains, but they were only just stirring back awake when Seph was safely out of the room. Ryan lied on the floor, trying to contol his breathing and figure out his balance once more. Jack sat himself down, looking around lazily as if he was just bored.

'Wait for it, wait for it,' Seph whispered.

He watched as Ryan tried to pick himself up, but with his horns in such a broken state, his balance was too bad to do it successfully, and with an incredible sound came crashing back to the ground again.

The noise captured the attention of the lion, who was lazily overwatching from the side line. Once Jack identified what it was that had made the noise, his interested was sufficiently piqued to keep watching. He found himself feeling hungry, suddenly  _ needing  _ to bring the bull down in his teeth. And not only that, but this was an injured animal: easy prey. He wouldn't even have to work hard.

A deep rumble resonated from the back of his throat, and it caused Ryan to sharply look up, despite how much the pain in his head begged him not to. His eyes widened with terror, and the adrenaline in his blood forced him to push away from the floor, fighting to save himself from the fate he faced. The moving target agitated Jack more, and he slowly stalked Ryan before taking his opportunity to pounce, securing himself his meal.

Ryan was looking the other way, and the first he knew of the attack was the claws deep in his back and the fangs sinking into his side. He could feel the hot wetness of his blood oozing out, and the helplessness as he found himself trapped underneath the full weight of the lion. He grunted and moaned out in pain, but there was nothing there to help. Jack knew he had him. Even if there had been a herd there to help Ryan out, the lion was going to be victorious in this one.

He wrenched against the flesh, pulling hard to satisfy his hunger. It was tougher than he expected, but by sinking his claws in further, he could muster the force he needed to rip away his first mouthful. The panicked swooshes of the bull's tail flew by his face, but all he needed to do was clamp his hand down on it to snap it away from him. The broken tail laid limp and bent across Ryan's legs, unlike his arms which were grappling at the floor to try and escape.

Jack moved quickly, and dragged his claws down Ryan's arms, doing what he could to stop the frantic motion of the bull. He moved around, and clamped his jaws down on one of Ryan's horns. This allowed him to drag his prize back over to his corner, and dine in his own territory. Ryan's eyes kept drifting open and shut, as if he didn't have the strength to hold onto consciousness. A smear of blood was left across the floor from his open wound as Jack pulled him along. Right, time to finish the job.

 

Seph wanted to make sure he could follow what was going on in both rooms. Satisfied with the progress being made with Ryan and Jack, he swapped places with Jordan so he could see into Gavin and Michael's room.

Michael was leant over Gavin, who was trapped on his front. His wings were trying to extend, but Michael's sharp claws ripped into them, sending feathers and flecks of blood flying. Like any cat, he wanted to play with his food. But it wasn't fun when his food didn't cooperate.

The cat hissed, and plunged his claws into Gavin's back, holding his prey still before he took the final blow. Michael's fur was up on end, his ears pointed backwards. His eyes were so bright and full of rage that Seph could have sworn they were bleeding acid. Seph was ready to witness the first animal death when he heard something that took him by surprise.

Along with the petrified squawks and cries that Gavin was letting out, one sound that seemed out of place seemed to seep through. It wasn't avian. It was human – like a human scream.

'What the fuck?' Seph said. It caught Jordan's attention from Jack and Ryan, and he came over to see what was up.

'What is it?'

'He's coming back... What freaking solutions did you pick up, Jordan? The samples or the actual ones?'

'The actual ones!' Jordan said defiantly, although there was concern in his voice. He'd been sure he'd picked up the full concentrations of the drug, rather than the diluted sample. Although, to be fair, they did all look the same...

'Well, whatever the fuck we gave him, it was the wrong one. Listen!' Seph grabbed Jordan's shoulder and pushed him towards the door, so that he too could hear Gavin. His human screams of pain were becoming more and more apparent through his bird cries. It was only going to be so long before the bits of Gavin would push through the realm of consciousness.

As Gavin started to come back, Michael's ferociousness grew. More fiercely and rapidly did he bring down his claws into Gavin's flesh as he tried to struggle away. His control over his wings and legs grew, and he could almost start forcing out cries of help from his voice box. The first word he managed to scream out fully was, 'MICHAEL!'

Gavin hadn't seen Michael become just the cat that was in him. He'd been injected before Michael had, and so all he knew was what was happening right now: his boi was ripping his body to shreds, and he wasn't stopping for anything. Gavin tried to push him away, twisting his body and curling up his legs to kick into Michael's chest, but the cat clung to him, adamant that the bird was his.

Gavin didn't know what to think, but all he knew was that he had to get Michael off of him and try and stop the bleeding and the pain ravaging his body. He felt the hot tears burn down his face before he even knew he was crying, desperate to get Michael away from him. The only thing that broke his shield of terror was the cry of pain Michael emitted that sliced through the air as Gavin smacked him as hard as he could round the face. He hadn't expected it to work, but that was Michael's voice, alright. There was a moment of silence, where Gavin didn't know what to think. The moment when he knew that the animal attacking him wasn't Michael, was the moment he saw those burning yellow eyes turn back to him with more anger and more rage than he'd ever seen. That was when Gavin knew that this was an animal that was going to kill him.

 


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys know how cold and heartless I am, right? I nearly cried writing the end of this chapter.
> 
> Only one more to go..

When Jack took his lethal swipe at Ryan, he ended up falling right over the bull as he missed the blow. He was disorientated, confused as to why his tactic hadn't worked. Ryan hardly had any reaction, except a painful grunt as the lion fell down on him, forcing more blood to spill from his side. He didn't have the strength to do anything else. There was no herd coming to rescue him, and if there were, he'd want them to run for their own lives.

Jack hoisted himself back up and prepared for the blow again. This time he wasn't going to miss. But as he came down with his razor sharp claws again, it was coupled with a scream in his own human voice that harmonised with the deadly roar tearing through his chest. This time, the lion fell to the side, clear of Ryan.

He roared out in frustration, his own cries pushing through.

'Oh God,' Jordan said, grabbing Seph's sleeve and pulling him over. Seph pushed himself as close to the door as possible, to get a good look.

'Holy fuck,' Seph said. He could see what was happening: the effects of the drug weren't lasting. That's why Gavin's human self was pushing through the bounds of the animal, and Michael wouldn't be too far behind him. Geoff was probably sitting in his and Ray's room, scared and alone. Seph didn't care. He should be grateful that Seph didn't let him kill Ray. But Jack had had his dose after everyone else – even if the effects weren't long-lasting, he still shouldn't be waking up.

This man's willpower was off the charts. It was like Jack had seen a glimpse of his human self, and was clinging onto it more than ever. It would be interesting, though, since Seph was fairly certain that Ryan was in too much of a state to even _possess_ willpower.

'What are we going to do?' Jordan said calmly. Seph was going to be the one to take the wheel here. Jordan was just backup.

'Grab a syringe,' Seph said without skipping a beat. 'We'll try and shot them again. Just be prepared, okay?'

Jordan nodded, and as quickly as they could, they each prepared a syringe. Seph poised himself outside Jack and Ryan's door, Jordan for Gavin and Michael. They nodded in unison, counting down from three, before bursting through their respective entrances.

As soon as Seph was in, Jack's attention cut to him. The anger and resent was clear in his expression, Seph could see it. He could see the human in there fighting to come out, but ultimately, Jack's body was under the control of the lion.

Seph walked slowly. He wanted to get close to Jack, but he didn't want to be celebrating his own funeral. Death by lion, that wasn't his way to go. Jack watched as Seph got closer and closer, both of them ignoring Ryan beside them who was clinging on to life. Seph was very careful as he slowly moved his hand towards Jack, planning on jabbing him with the syringe before he'd even known what had hit him.

Unfortunately for Seph, Jack was too quick, and he swiped up with his menacing claws. Seph dived back to avoid the blow, but they still managed to catch his legs. The lion moved towards him, not wanting the moving target to get away. Seph saw those fangs baring at him, and there was only one more move he could make before he became Jack's next meal.

As fast as he could, Seph reached behind him and pulled his pistol out. He wasn't used to shooting guns, but he held it up in front of him as best he could, pointing the barrel right at Jack. Just as the lion reared up to attack, Seph pulled the trigger.

The bullet went straight through Jack's shoulder, forcing him backwards, narrowly missing Ryan's horn as he landed. Seph exhaled, suddenly feeling not so tough as he realised how narrowly he'd just missed a fatal swipe. Jack roared out, sound echoing against the walls. Seph could have left him. He was on the floor, struggling to get back up. It would have been easy to have left him. But that left Seph as a target.

Inhaling deeply to prepare himself, and not lowering his gun, he edged forwards so he was looking down over Jack. The lion was writhing and emitting distressed roars, Ryan, beside him, flinching at every loud noise. Seph swallowed hard. His hands were clammy. This was what this was all coming to. All he'd wanted to do was test it on Geoff –

Jack was still before the sound had even left the gun. His eyes didn't blink. His mouth didn't open wider to roar again. His fangs just hung, doing nothing. Blood spilled over the edges of the wound, and leaked from his mouth, dripping onto the floor beside him.

Ryan could hardly move his head, but when he managed to turn enough to see Jack's unmoving body, his eyes widened with panic, and he huffed out of his nostrils to express his horror. He could feel himself coming back, and although he couldn't move his body from how damaged it was, he could certainly feel the white-hot fury rising inside him, the tears spilling without warning onto the ground. He didn't doubt that Jack was the reason he was so injured. It didn't take him long to piece the puzzle together. But now he was fucking  _ dead _ .

Well, Ryan wanted Seph to be dead.

Seph gave Ryan an acknowledging exhale, and walked nervously out, leaving him and the dead body of his best friend alone on the floor. He didn't want to hear Ryan's cries, his pines for Jack's life. Seph had done what he'd needed to do to keep himself alive. And it didn't matter anyway, because wasn't that the whole idea? Humans over hybrids?

Seph wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, and rounded into Gavin and Michael's room. The door was wide open, and inside he could see Jordan trying to wrestle Michael away from Gavin. Gavin, now fully in control of his body, was screaming. 'MICHAEL! MICHAEL, COME ON! GET OFF OF MY MICHAEL! MICHAEL, PLEASE!' He was trying to force Jordan away from Michael, but it wasn't working. All it took was for Jordan to rip at Gavin's feathers, or shove him away and he was helpless.

Seph stood by as he saw Jordan take the syringe and stab it right into Michael's leg, since getting a hold of his arm was proving too much of a challenge. Once it was in, Jordan stood up and backed away, coming back to Seph.

But Michael had fought through some control over himself while Seph had been dealing with Jack and Ryan, and he managed to tear himself away from the bird (that he still so desperately ached to hunt), his full attention on Jordan. If he was going to act, he knew that it had to be before this drug had time to strip him of his humanity again.

Michael pulled himself to his feet, and limped as fast as he could towards Jordan, his claws extended and ready to tear into his weak flesh. But Seph saw what was happening too quickly. Jordan's back was facing Michael – he would never stand a chance if Michael got the opportunity to curl his claws around Jordan's jugular. As if it were in slow motion, Seph dived towards his brother, using all the force he had to get him out of Michael's line of attack. All he saw was the claws and the fangs coming right at him, before the echoing bullet sent Michael suddenly backwards.

Before Michael could even realise what had happened, he tried to take a step forward again. He was going to  _ kill  _ Seph for making him try and kill Gavin. He was going to  _ tear  _ him to motherfucking  _ shreds  _ for what he did –

The second bullet hit, but this time harder. Michael couldn't keep his legs straight to hold him up any more. The ground got closer and closer, and his blood burst all over it before he even began to feel the pain of the gunshot. Everything sounded muffled, and it took him a few seconds to realise that the loud sound beside him was Gavin screaming his name.

He turned to look at his boi, who was lunging towards him to hold him, and try and save him from this. Gavin's screaming got louder, but to Michael it got quieter, further away, as his sense of hearing started to disappear. He could feel the isolation of death suffocating him. He opened his mouth to say one last thing to Gavin, but all that fell from it was a waterfall of blood before his head fell into Gavin's lap, and his vision blacked out for the very last time.

Seph stood over his second kill's body, almost trying to hold in the bile that had risen in his throat from shooting Michael down. Jordan was trying to regain himself from the shock, and was wrapped up in his own attention. All that could be heard was Gavin's sobs as he held on to Michael, his fingers lost in his boi's hair, and clinging desperately to his clothes. Gavin buried his face down so his forehead touched Michael's, and he rocked the dead body of his best friend, begging any force in the universe to bring him back.

The only thing that pulled him out of it was the sound of the click of the pistol above him. Gavin raised his head to look up at Seph, his face stained with tears and blood. 'Go on then,' he said quietly, yet forcefully. He could feel himself shaking, both from anger, bereavement, and hate. 'I would die for him. I would. So go on then.' There was silence. ' _ FUCKING DO IT _ .'

Gavin's dare was met with Seph's crooked laugh. His lowered the gun. 'You're not even  _ worth  _ it,' he spat, and turned, ready to leave Gavin cradling Michael's dead body. Death would be the easy way out for him. Hybrids didn't deserve that kind of luxury.

'My one and only boi,' Gavin whimpered into Michael's hair, wetting the fur on his ears with his tears. He was remembering what he'd said to Michael the day they'd left Austin all that time ago.

_'Yeah, Gav,' Michael forced himself to say in the most cracked, broken voice. A few tears fell from his eyes, but he brutally tried to wipe them away. 'You're my boi, too. My one and only.'_

_Michael didn't know what to do after that, so Gavin shyly proposed a fist-bump, saying, 'May Team Nice Dynamite win. We're gonna do it, Michael. We're gonna get the tower of pimps of life! You're gonna see me again. Do you really think you can just get rid of me when you want? Nah!' He scoffed. 'Don't be daft.'_

'T-Team Nice Dynamite, Michael. Team Nice –' But he couldn't even finish what he was saying, as the realisation that he'd truly never see his best friend again overtook his everything. All he could do was hold Michael for the last time. And he wished more than anything that he'd never have to let go.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READY FOR THE FINALE?
> 
> Also I hope you all appreciated the fact that the two people who led the happiest lives while everyone was apart were to two to.. well..


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so.. here's the very last chapter. Very short one. See the end notes for me talking about this a bit more.

Seph came out of the room in a hurry. Jordan stumbled behind him, and made his way out of the building. All he'd have to do was get Lindsay, Caiti and Ray's bodies out of the van before he and Seph could get away. They had no reason to be here any more. Experiment was over. It was time for them to fucking leave.

'I'll be just a sec,' Seph said, ushering Jordan on. Jordan went, leaving Seph alone for a minute.

Opening the door to the room Geoff was in, Seph cautiously looked around. He couldn't actually see Geoff, but he wanted to leave the door open so that he was free to leave as and when. And, if Geoff was quick enough, he'd be able to get medical attention to Ryan and Gavin before it was too late for them. It was his choice.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Seph got stopped. Geoff leapt from behind the open door, locking his arms around Seph's neck, and bringing his knee up to collide with his jaw. Geoff took that opportunity to shove Seph back out into the hall outside the room, and kicked him hard in the chest, causing him to collapse backwards against the wall, his spine giving out a horrendous crack at the impact.

Seph grabbed for his gun, but his hands stopped searching when he looked up and saw Geoff standing over him, pistol in hand, aimed precisely into the centre of Seph's face. 'Never underestimate ex-military,' Geoff said slyly, holding Seph in place with one of his feet. He wanted to utilise his horns, but this wasn't the time.

'Where are the others?' Geoff said. Seph smiled, and nodded to the two doors beside them. Geoff acknowledged them, and moved on to the next question.

'What were the gun shots for?'

Seph laughed.

Geoff brought his foot down hard on Seph's collarbone, causing him to cry out in pain, but nevertheless remaining silent with his information. A shot of fear made its way through Geoff as he tried to figure out who of his friends might not be there any more. It ate at him inside, but this wasn't a time for him to show weakness. He gritted his teeth, and pressed down hard to show Seph who was in charge.

'The nightmare you turned our lives into,' Geoff said, the shakiness of his breath obvious in his speech. Seph looked proud of himself. 'I've dreamt of this moment for thirty years.'

The flashback passed through his head. The confrontation in the corridor. The syringe chugging poison into his leg. The yelling.  _ 'I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, JOESEPH WHIPLEY.' He could hardly hear himself, but the power emanating from his larynx was there. 'I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU.'  _ The words were as clear as daylight, and echoed through his mind.

'So here we go.'

Seph's grin slowly fell from his face as he realised what was happening.

'Three,' Geoff said, perfecting the aim on his target, bringing his right arm up to join his left on the hilt of the gun.

 

'Two.' His thumb teasing itself across the hammer, his index finger dancing across the trigger.

 

'One.'

 

 

\--

 

_At the tip of a needle, at the butt of a gun,_

_at the end of a fight, where Seph's two to one_

_At the mercy of a drug that makes them thirsty for death,_

_a cat and a lion take their last breaths_

_A chase across the country left with bloody demise,_

_and the killer now left with no where to hide_

_At the tip of_ his _needle, at the butt of_ his _gun,_

_the only words he now hears: a lethal count down to one._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much pain as I reined down on your lives with this fic, I really hope you guys enjoyed it. I've never written anything this long before, and I spent so long thoroughly planning this, the plot, the characters, all the little clues left dotted throughout the chapters all pointing to what was going to happen. I really hope all that effort was for something, and I for one really enjoyed writing it, so I feel like it was at least worth something.
> 
> I'm not sure what I'm going to write next. Whether I should go back down the Achievement Hunter route [I have some ideas..] or head towards Red vs. Blue. What do you guys think?
> 
> I'd be really interested to hear your theories, since I purposelessly left the ending ambiguously open. Did Geoff pull the trigger, or did he left Seph go? Do Ryan and Gavin make it? And what happens to Lindsay, Caiti, and Ray? Also, Meg, Tina and Griffon are still both somewhere. I did consider writing a sequel, I honestly did, but I think it would be better if I left it as it is and let you make up your mind for yourself.
> 
> I want to quickly thank some people. Firstly, Aib, for being the imagination powerhouse behind this AU. She gets all the credit for the animal types, etc, and she is the reason I was inspired to write this. I really love this AU, so thank you for creating it! 
> 
> Next, to Jess. You read this before it had been proofread and published, and even so, your response to it was so encouraging and it made me so excited to upload it.
> 
> Meg, whose reactions when I manipulated her to the point that she believed Gavin was going to die were everything I needed to reassure myself that I was hitting the right mark here. It should be noted that I told NO ONE who was going to die, only that someone[s] did. Before this was published, the ONLY person who knew that it was Jack and Michael who died was Jess, who read it before it was out. So winding Meg up with the little clues I'd planted so she kept doubting herself with who was going to die was everything I needed to convince myself that I was doing the mystery aspect right.
> 
> Next, all of you who commented on this piece of writing. You have /no/ idea how much that means. A comment gives me an insight into how you're finding it, what you're thinking along the way, and the emotions you're feeling. It lets me know if you're invested in the story, or are just reading it for the LOLs. The reactions I was getting were more than enough to let me know that I had achieved something here. 
> 
> I guess I should also shoutout to all the awesome composers who wrote the songs that I put into a playlist for this fic. I would write to those piece of music every time I opened my laptop to do so, and even now the songs elicit an emotional reaction from me. 
> 
> I think that's about it. If you want to discuss ANYTHING about this story with me [which, trust me, I am MORE than happy to, hint hint] you can contact me at the following places:
> 
> TUMBLR [preferable] - the-m-a-d-king.tumblr.com  
> TWITTER - twitter.com/microcutz
> 
> Thank you guys so much! This past month and a bit has been SO much fun to work through, uploading a chapter every day. On to the next one, I guess! You stay classy!
> 
> Ps, if you're down for leaving a review, I'd be super happy!

**Author's Note:**

> REMEMBER TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS<3


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